


The beautiful creature belongs to me.

by BlackHeartsandBlackerSouls



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Dragon Castiel, Goddamn soulmates, Immortality, Kidnapped Dean Winchester, Kidnapping, M/M, Possessive Castiel, Prince Dean, kind of but not really only in the beginning, mpreg is my cup of tea, non-con elements, of course it would be pregnant Dean if that happened., only if fate is kind tho, probably mpreg
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-19
Updated: 2018-09-20
Packaged: 2018-12-12 05:13:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 16
Words: 23,801
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11730216
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlackHeartsandBlackerSouls/pseuds/BlackHeartsandBlackerSouls
Summary: Castiel, like most dragons loves shiny and beautiful things, whether they be gems or tapestries. and like so many of his kind he loves/needs to hoard it, protect it and possess it. Dean just so happens to be beautiful and shiny.





	1. He caught my eye.

**Author's Note:**

> second story, comments keep me motivated, so if you like leave a comment, if not don't. the more comments the faster I'll update.

The first time Castiel noticed the gorgerous treasure he had been idly circling the castle, enjoying the way his very presence caused such panic in the small two legged creatures. They would run about and scoop up the even tinier versions of themselves while running screaming towards their flimsy lairs. It never failed to amuse him greatly and cure his boredom, but today had been different. instead of the usual band of two legged fools throwing cheap toothpicks at him, there was a band of shiny two legged creatures sat astrind a somewhat bigger four legged creature brandishing a small metal pike?

And most fascinating was the leader. Castiel could smell its fear, but the pitiful thing charged forth anyway, swinging it's shiny toothpick. Then it started to speak. Or more accurately it( or rather he) started screaming, and it was by far the most beautiful thing Castiel had ever heard. he wanted more. He swooped closer and he smelled something just as wondrous as that sound. It was coming from the same person, and it was almost obstructed by the smell of fear but he could sense it, the unlikely combination of lavender, apples and cinnamon and a touch of leather. normally those scents together would be nothing short of repulsive but coming from this being it was the most delectable thing to ever hit his nostrils. He wanted it, he wanted to posses it, make it the most treasured part of his hoard, and quite frankly he would get it.

He charged the group and extended his claws, ready to grab his newest treasure, the other two legged things started shrieking and running as fast as they possibly could away from him. But not his treasure, it straightened its shiny back stood up top of its steeds back and flipped its metal toothpick. Castiel could smell determination coming from it, and he admired its courage but he couldn't help but chuckle. The poor thing was no match for him and it would soon learn that. he bellowed out and stream of flames pulled up, reached out the grab the fragile body beneath him to be met with... pain. He quickly folded his wings and landed in pile of broken lives and dreams,  He looked down to see a long shallow cut along his inner forearm going towards his chest. it was just deep enough to bleed but not deep enough to cause any serious damage. it was however the first injury Castiel had received in his entire adult life. There wasn't many things bigger than a dragon and those that were tended to be unable to pierce a dragon's hard scaly armor, so the last time he ever gotten was when he was but a hatchling sparring with his hatch mates. So the fact that this pitiful, fragile being has been able to draw blood gave him a new respect for his trinket. However, it also infuriated him. He let out a sound that had buildings crumbling and the two legged ones holding theirs heads, he swiped over some trees with his tale and turned his wrath upon his prize had faster than a blink of and eye had it enclosed in his fist.

in hindsight, he should have taken note of whether or not it had dropped the shiny toothpick. it hadn't and that's how it ended up jammed underneath his middle claw, where it met the tender flesh beneath. it was enough for him to drop  his gem,  and stare at the shiny toothpick embedded in his skin. It hurt like a son of a bitch. he very gently closed his teeth around the end and tried to pull it out, and almost immediately stopped when instead of coming out, it slid deeper into his body, the toothpick was much too small to grad with the claws of the other hand.

well now that it was weaponless maybe Castiel could get it to pull it out? He looked down to where he had dropped his jewel to find that it had left and taken all of its kin with it.  Then the rocks started coming down. Sections of walls came collapsing down on Castiel, along with boulders of every shape and size. In the mix was the sharpened wooden toothpicks. The rocks bruised his skin under the scales and the toothpicks tore through the thin membrane of wings. An axe flew down from the top and embedded itself in one of his horns. Blood dripped down into his eyes, temporarily blinding him.

He hadn't realized he was that distracted, that a whole town of stinky, stupid two legged things could attack and injure him so. He was furious at himself and at them  in his frustration he kicked over a few lairs and bellowed at the sky, turned to the Castle and shot up into the sky....

.... and decided to go home. he would be back, just after he got this toothpick out, and he could fly without feeling as though his wings would give out any minute, he would teach this town and he would get his prize. he would be back for his silver plated relic.

 

 

 

 

Dean's P.O.V.

That was fucking close.


	2. Not giving up.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Castiel couldn't stop thinking about his lost treasure, Dean is positive he can slay the beast.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so freaking exhausted that I cannot even remember how to spell my name, and I am behind on all of my homework. so forgive this really late chapter.

Castiel could not stop thinking of his gem. It's very being haunted his dreams and consumed his thoughts. It infuriated him, for not only had he lost his precious treasure, he had been driven away by two legged creatures and their  _toothpicks. Insects_ that had never dared to stand up to him before have suddenly risen up and not only have they dared to defy him  _they attacked and **injured him.**_ ~~Him,~~ He who was greater than them all.  Brought down by such weak things, worthless things.  And he could not stand for it. he would not be humiliated in such a way, and they would not keep  _his beautiful, sweet smelling jewel_ from him. It would be his, not matter what he had to do, who he had to mutilate. That rarity was going to sit at the top of the pile gold and silver, it would be the most valuable part of his hoard.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dean's POV.

The dragon had brought down too many buildings, injured too many and stolen too many lives in this last attack. It had been circuiting this kingdom for centuries, or that's what Sammy says. He read all the historical accounts of it anyway. Dean personally hadn't been around the last few centuries, ya know with not being born yet and all that. He did personally know that this dragon, with its black hide that seemed have captured the stars and its icy blue eyes, had been terrorizing the kingdom all of his life. It would come around seemingly picking things up that suited its fancy, knocking over trees with its tail and setting anything constructed of wood on fire, it has crushed countless children underneath its paws and every attempt to dissuade the dragon from returning ended in failure. The damned thing had taken a liking to them it seemed.

 

Until recently. Upon his own insistence and a near fist fight with his father, the knights and him tried out the new full body armor  that Sammy had helped him invent. For the first time Dean Winchester was going to face the dragon and he was going to make it the last time anybody in this kingdom would ever need too. 

So with his head held high and bravely ( incredibly stupidly) ignoring his mother's desperate pleas to stop this madness and Dean Winchester get your ass back here before I make you(s?) he marched his steed into battle to face his probable death. And sure enough, the moment the horses stepped into the wrecked town square the giant overgrown fire breathing lizards whips its head about... and freezes. In the frozen moment Dean could swear ( like not out loud or anything and if you say anything I will cut out your damn tongue, fugly) that their eyes locked and he felt his soul reaching out to this being. Then the son of bitch charged, talons extended and Sammy was screaming at him to do something and not just stand there, the horses were terrified and men were fleeing their posts in great numbers. So he straightened his back and as its humongous paws came towards him, he flung his arm up. The action was rewarded by a long a shallow cut going up the beasts leg, the monster shrieked and crash landed into the bakers house ( such a shame, she made the best pecan pie a man could ask for) and seemed bewildered by the pain. Like it didn't know how to deal with it. It then looked at him with awe and fury. Faster than Dean could ever even hope to process the dragon was in front of him, and was almost tenderly scooping him up into its fist before tightening its hold over his body. And let me tell you, being plucked from your horse and watching it practically die from fright it not a pleasant experience, but neither is hearing your baby brother calling you by the nickname he hasn't uttered since he was five and chasing a winged piece of the fucking night sky while it tenderly tucks your head into the space next to its palm so your freaking sight is blocked is just overall a shitty experience. so he did the only thing he could think of, rammed his sword downward and hoped It did enough damage to get the monster to let go. and let go it did. it fucking dropped him and than he was falling and screwing his eyes shut because man did he not like flying, and prayed for the best.

 _Of course Sammy wouldn't let him down,_ Dean thought as he landed on a feather mattress and the knights and townsfolk alike rained arrows and debris onto the dragon, Who with one last longing look at ... Dean? no, no the Castle, yep totally the castle it took off with a angry and injured cry.  Dean laughed and laid back. Now time to face the real beast; His mother. 

<><><><><><><><time skips forward><:><><><><><><><><><><><><><<><><><><><> still Dean's POV tho  
To say his mother was irate would be an understatement. She was so angry Dean was for sure that she was possessed with one of those evil spirit Missouri keeps yapping about. 

"How dare you disobey me?!?!?!?! I SPEICIFICALLY TOLD YOU NOT TO FACEE THE DRAGON DEAN!!!! THERE WAS A GREAT POSSIBILITY THAT YOU COULD HAVE DIED DEAN!!! THEN WHAT WOULD I HAVE DONE?!?!?!?! YOU'RE MY ONLY DEAN. AND THEN COME TO FIND OUT YOU TOOK YOUR BABY BROTHER WITH YOU?!?!?! YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO PROTECT HIM NOT PUT HIM IN SENSELESS DANGER!!!'

Of course then Dean was furious.

"ARE YOU TELLING ME I AM SUPPOSED TO JUST LET THE PEOPLE DIE?!?!?! I THOUGHT OUR JOB WAS TO CARE FOR AND PROTECT THE CITIZENS. THAT THEY RULED US AS MUCH AS WE RULED THEM. PEOPLE WERE DYING MA, WE CANNOT KEEP LETTING THIS DRAGON TORMENT US, AND SAMMY IS OLD TO DECIDE WHETHER OR NOT HE WANTS TO FIGHT THE DAMN DRAGON. WE ARE NOT BABIES ANYMORE.' 

Mary sighed suddenly and irreversibly exhausted, " you'll always be my baby, Dean. and I did not go through nine months of hellish pregnancy to watch you die before me." With one last sigh she turned around... and ordered the guards to lock Dean up, but quietly of course.

\------------------------------time goes by, like a few months later------  
Still on Dean's pov  
He had been locked up forever. The better part of eternity to be exact. Ya see in this day and age, this is how you punished your children. Locked them up in the dungeons. Hell there was a special wing of this dungeon just so the poor could lock up,their naughty children. The good news is with all these people dropping off and picking up their little trouble makers that Dean wasn't unaware of the going ons of the kingdom and he was proud to say that there was no new reports of the dragon.

Maybe actually standing up to it was the solution.

/that wasn't the solution./

Castiel's POV castiel has spent the last few months learning all he could about the two legged insects. They were apparently called  _humans._ Disgusting vile creatures, who tear apart their own kin over land or "loving the wrong sex". Pitiful. He had to get his relic out of there before they manage to corrupt it. with a lot of practice, Castiel had managed to learn and master the skill of shifting into a human. He could hold the form for three hours at a time now. Plenty of time to go in and get his prize. 

Castiel packed all the provisions he thought he needed into a medium sized saddle bag that he could strap to his fore leg, including a book about human behaviors and languages, a map of the castle, the absurdly accurate assumption that his wonderful treasure was what they call royalty. He even had the foresight to have a horse( that four-legged thing the two-legged ones were sitting on.) waiting for him about two miles from the castle ( a twenty minute brisk ride from that point) and had even guessed which room the gem was assigned ( again scarily accurate) a room on the third floor (there are four floors in this particular castle) about three doors down on the right. Even knew the fastest route to get to that room. ( go through the kitchen and up the servants stairwell.) and packed a hefty dosage of sleeping herbs. HE was prepared to get that prize.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to PaleNoFace for the bookmark and seriously thank you to Antigravityx for your patience.


	3. Because you're mine. duh.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> stuff actually happens. like action. cool? cool.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello to whomever may be reading this. I would like to apologize for the long wait between chapters, recently a close family member had passed away and I was not taking it well. I wasn't doing well in the slightest. I won't say that everything is hunky dory and I am doing great now because I would be lying. I will say that if this chapter seems dark or depressing or wayyy too deep for me than you know why.

 

if you see an image its by @spnfankat81.

What is loss? What is it really like to lose something or someone? Do you know the real meaning of lose or do you just think you do? Sam Winchester believed he knew what loss was, he could spout every definition known to man for loss. But the truth is that Sam had no idea what loss was. Not until the dragon took his brother, not until they could only find a puddle of blood in the cell where Dean was last seen. Had not a clue until he was sitting on his brothers bed, holding onto his pillow to breath in the smell of cinnamon, apples and leather, with the tiniest touch of their mother's lavender soap. The smell of Dean. Then and only then did Sam Winchester know what loss was, and how much it truly hurt.  and only then did he know the thirst for revenge.

* * *

EARLIER THAT DAY

The day started out ordinarily enough, ya know for being locked in a cell in you own basement because you defied your mother, who was totally wrong by the way. The sun shone through the bars of his window and right into his eyes. Then he would be awakened. After his morning pee, and subsequent thirst he ate his super shitty breakfast where he threw everything he didn't want at his brother Sam from across the way. Occasionally hitting the lanky boy in the face and activating bitch face #11, the one that said " what the fuck Dean? are you two?" overall a incredibly boring day to add to the long line of incredibly boring days that will continue until the day he decides he has enough and gets down on his knees to apologize to his mother and shower with praise. Yes, he literally has to _get on his knees_ to beg his mother's forgiveness for her to let him out, or if he out stubborns her and she lets him out( and Sam). they are in for a long wait cuz Dean does not go to his knees, he does not bow and he certainly does not apologize. His mother can suck eggs. Fresh unwashed eggs to be exact. For now though all he could was torment Sam. Who also couldn't leave until Dean apologize (he  had already apologized, but since they did it together they have to get out of it together). That is what they were going to do all day and that is what they have been doing every day for the past month. L

Until that afternoon.

Dean had been sitting on his cot, singing the most annoying song he could think of just to bother Sam when he heard the bells. He whipped to his feet so fast he was light headed and immediately demanded to know what was going on. He smushed his face between the cell bars and tried to see down the hall, were shouts were beginning to rise above the noise of the bell. looking across the hall he noticed Sam doing the same thing, and asked " Sammy, you see anything?"

" oh god, DEAN. He killing them, DEAN HE IS KILLING THEM... HE IS TEARING THEM APART, DEAN DEAN I'M SCARED" 

At times like this it was easy to remember that Sam was just a boy. ( btw Sam is four years younger than Dean, Dean is 15 which makes Sam 11, idk if I gave them ages but I am now. You are not officially an adult until your 18 in this fic but you are like an "adult in training" at 13 not a child but not an adult) 

" Sammy, SAMMY. calm down look at me. he is not going to get to you, I won't let him touch you, but ya gotta tell me what you see. who is it?' 

Sam turned his eyes towards Dean, tears ran down his face and his long chestnut hair hung limply. He looked so fragile. 

"I don't know who it is Dean. but he can't be Human"

before Dean could respond and guard went skidding past their cells, his slid aided by his own blood. and a tall ( Castiel is bigger than Dean since ya know Dragon, like big enough that he can wrap Dean in his arms and Dean would disappear from sight, but not so big as though he is immediately suspicious) man covered in blood stepped into sight. The man raised his head, stuck his nose in the air and sniffed, he took a deep lungful and snapped his head to the right where his icy blue eye made contact with Dean's glittering jade ones. the man's pupils narrowed into slits, like a reptiles. Like a dragon's. 

"holy shit, you're the dragon" Dean whispered and flinched when suddenly the man was pressed up against his cell door so that he was touching Dean through the spaces between bars. 

" and you're mine" it responded in a voice and deep as fuck, and so goddamn ~~sexy~~.. uh horrible, terrifying, dreadful, spooky, abysmal, grotesque and it certainly didn't make his soul jump in any way, no siree. 

"the fuck I am, you fucking freak. Get the hell away from me you son of a bitch" 

The fucker chuckled, stepped back and RIPPED THE FUCKING DOOR OFF THE HINGES. before ominously advancing towards Dean. who did the only thing available to him.  
He fucking sucker punched that bitch, while simultaneously kneeing him the gut, and fuck if it didn't hurt Dean more than it hurt him. like son of a bitch, what are dragons made of? stone?  
The fucker used Dean's pain as a distraction and grabbed him by the forearms and pulled him until Dean was pressed up against him from head to toe, damn did Dean underestimate how big he was. He looked up into those icy blue eyes, felt his soul start to reach out to the creature holding him, relaxed his muscles.... and fucking head butted the bastard and nearly knocked himself out. The fucking lizard thought it was funny, and that it was okay to run its dirty hands up his back so he was cupping his face and gently

turning his head to the side so his neck was exposed and sinking his long ass fangs into the juncture of shoulder and neck. Blood began to seep around the fangs and dripped down onto the floor, looking much worse than it actually was. Dean was starting to feel sleepy as the dragon pumped him full of some venom, mixing with his blood and diluting it,  
the more that entered his blood the more his soul soured and expanded to greet the others soul, soon it was whispering... Castiel...Castiel... and damn did the Drga-Castiel's arms feel so damn warm and cozy right about now....

Next thing Dean knew the fangs were ripped out of his body and Castiel was running, Sam was screaming and there was the overpowering sound of flesh ripping before Castiel spoke " I am sorry my treasure, but I am out of time this form will not hold" and suddenly he was in the arms of a overgrown lizard and nope he was not looking down, not that he could if he wanted to since he was fucking paralyzed.... What even is his life?

~~~~~~~~~~~~ Castiel's Pov from earlier till present time~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Castiel made it to his horse, rode the damn thing and made it through the gates of the city with no problem. None whatsoever. it wasn't until he wanted to go where the rich people inhabited that he had problems, nothing that a few gold coins couldn't fix but problems nonetheless. No the real challenge was getting into the Palace. which was different from the aristocrats part of town, it was the place that the lords and ladies dwelled and apparently you needed proof that you were in fact nobility or royalty. And infuriatingly he couldn't buy his way into this part of town. So as not to blow his cover he had to freaking sneak in, like a rat. Dragons don't do sneaking, animals of prey did the sneaking and the deceiving. Dragons proudly announced their presence and slaughtered all who stood in the way of what they wanted. But Castiel couldn't do that since he could hurt his prize and well he gathered his gem was, what is the human term for it?? fond? yes fond, his gem was fond of these people and would not take a liking to him if he slaughtered them all. Plus his elder told him patience was a virtue and all that other fun stuff. and he did not learn how to shift for nothing so the hard way it way. And the hardest goddamn thing about this whole fiasco was gaining access to the castle itself. The small brained two legged things guarded that thing like Castiel would his hoard. Of course Castiel could understand, a jewel like the one inside definitely needed all the guards it could get. so he scaled the wall all the way up to the chambers of his pearl, on the third floor and how in world did humans use these damn fingers? they were so damn useless, they couldn't hold much, their grip was abysmal and for heavens sake, why was there no traction to these tubes of flesh? no there was not. Against all odds he made it there, burst through the window and found the room empty. in fact it smelled like it hadn't been used in while. Now Castiel knew he was in the right room, because that toothpick that was lodged underneath his claw was on the table, with just little flecks of his blood on it and he could smell his flower, the scent was faint like the source had been gone a month or two, but some of the items in the room had been with the darling forever so that his scent was saturated into every pore of their beings.

so he knew he was in the right room, maybe they moved the treasure to a more secure location? that would make sense since Castiel did try to take him the last time he was here. whatever. they should just hand him his prize. bow down to the superior species and all that jazz.  
"well I guess I just \have to keep looking" although it took his two hours to get to this point so he only has an hour to find his gem.  
"If I wanted to keep something safe, so no one could look at it, where would I put it? in my cave, fifty miles up a mountain and twenty five miles deep that's where. but humans don't live in caves. what do humans have that is similar to caves? what did that book say again? think Castiel think, oh a vault, which would be under the castle, that's kinda like a cave!! so they probably put his queen in the vault, which is cave-like so no one could find it and steal it away!! "  
Castiel strode towards the door and out into the hallway and simply looked for stairs, because basements are down stairs. he just down the hallway looking for stairs when he noticed a blond lady with ringlets, and realized she smelled somewhat like his treasure, so he followed her and blessed be!! she was going down the stairs, and quite the stair case it was. It was a spiral stair case that was carved from stone, marble he thought idly. All kinds of vining flowers were carved into the banister in such a way that It looked like they were wrapped around it, the stairs kept going until it reached a floor and then the railing opened onto the floor while the rest kept going. hell Castiel found the stairwell so fascinating that he just followed it all the way down. before he even knew it there were guards yelling at him, demanding to know who he was and what he was doing there, and he could finally smell his beloved jewel.

so he finally found him and it had only taken forty five minutes, and well he had to take care of the guards and actually grab his treasure and get out again. Easy enough.  
THWACK!!! Castiel blinked. that fucking asshole cockroach just hit him with a stick. That's it. all bets were off. these bitches were going to die. He grabbed the leader by the throat looked into his dull mud eyes and snapped his neck, after which he threw his lifeless body to his buddies. who immediately scrambled backwards and fell down the remaining five steps. one was brave enough to swing his fist towards Castiel's face, of course he caught it than ripped the mans arm off, and proceeded to kill him with his own arm. ripped the spine out of another and literally drop kicked the last one, as he went to retrieve his new chew toy he was hit by the scent of what he had been looking for. His precious. he stopped to savor the smell and looked to the right... and there it was. Those eyes such a tempting shade of emerald, he has to be closer. he had to touching him. three centuries ago. his legs moved of their own accord, bringing him flush up against the iron bars and trapping his queens hands to his chest. the feel of his skin was so delightful. of course he looked and felt different from the last time he saw his prize but this version was sooo much better. and his gems voice!! so delicious. hardly even registered the breathy "you're the dragon over his own purring.  
"and you're mine" he replied.  
his love suddenly pulled back as far as he could, ya know since Castiel had his hands, although I don't think my treasure has noticed that yet.  
" the fuck I am you fucking freak!!"  
that froze Castiel for a hot minute before he was laughing. his doll was just delightful, he had to be closer. he released his baby dolls hands, mournfully watched as they retracted and ripped the barrier between them away he was so dazed by his love that he didn't notice when he hit him in two places, he did however notice when he hunched over and held his fingers to his chest. Castiel brought his gold to his chest, knowing the contact would make him better. His queen looked up at him and their eyes connected and Castiel's soul reached out and tenderly brushed against.i.. Dean's soul. it felt so right... until Dean ruined it and tried to head butt him but ultimately just injured himself. so Castiel skipped to the next step. Making and marking Dean as his. he ran his hands up his arms ( humans had so much feeling in their bodies, Castiel likey) up his back and gently cupped Dean's face before tilting it to the side and sunk his fangs into his neck. Dean tasted as good as he smelled and looked and just got even better as Castiel pumped his serum into him. Even as you read this Dean was slowly becoming Immortal ( ya know so Cas doesn't have to live without him) and slowly changing in other ways. ( you will find out later if you keep reading this story.) Castiel could feel Dean growing sleepy, and hmmed in contentment, before realizing he was out of time and more guards were showing up, probably because the brat across the hall was screaming. so he quickly but carefully extracted his fangs and gathered his sleepy queen into his arms. He leaned in to whisper " I am sorry my treasure, but I am out of time, this form will not hold" and then he shifted, his wings tearing out of his back and he was on his way home. and he got his prize. p> 

And a mother lost her baby, a boy his hero, a father his son and a kingdom their future.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> please comment. I need words of encouragement, I NEED THEM. also forgive typos, spelling and grammar errors.


	4. My Precious.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The morning after Kidnapping the Precious.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guess whose back? yeah, you!!! how do I know this? well because you are reading this, which means you're back to this story.

Dean’s POV  
When Dean awoke he was…fucking confused. He couldn’t see worth a damn, and mother fucker was he warm, hot even. He tried to kick his blankets off only to find that he couldn’t because the thing that he was wrapped in wasn’t a blanket at all. It was something leathery, yet soft, there were ridges throughout it and it kept him pinned to the heat maker. Every time he even so much as tried to shift it would wind itself around him tighter until he just gave up and relaxed against said heat machine. His cheek was pressed to the side of it, and he was yet again surprised at how soft it was, how his cheek almost glided across it like silk. And because nobody would ever know, he simply decided to go back to sleep, ear pressed firmly to its side. Which is when he noticed that said oven had a heartbeat, a slow, steady and strong one.  
Son of a bitch!!! Was the overgrown reptile _cuddling_ him?!?!?!?  
Ah, hell NO!!  
With renewed rigor, (and a deep sense of embarrassment and wounded man ego) Dean thrashed and struggled his way out of the monster’s cuddling claws. Well he tried to. While it was obvious that his struggles and enthusiastic screaming of profanities had awoken the beast, it was also obvious that beast was more amused than anything and wasn’t going to release him from his forced chick flick moment. Hell, Dean could swear that the wing (because he knew what it was now) just wrapped tighter around him, and the fucking salamander started laughing.  
“let me go, you son of a bitch, I swear if you don’t let me go right now I will stab you in the face the first chance I get, I swear to God, Lucifer and everything in between that you will rue the day you decided to cuddle Dean Fucking Winchester- “  
Dean’s rant was cut off by the fact that the wing had abruptly released him, only to be scooped up by one ginormous paw to brought before one, just one huge ass, glittering sapphire eye. _This eye was so damn big Dean and Sammy could walk through its pupil side by side, arms outstretched and still not touch the forsaken edges. Of course, Sammy was only eleven so maybe he should have used a bigger person for this analogy. Yeah, his father more accurately portrayed what he was trying to say. Hell, his whole family could walk through that pupil side by side and not touch the sides._  
_You know what? That beside the point_. The point was that this fucking eye was focused solely on him, unwavering and seemingly wholly amused by him.  
Dean was glad somebody was amused. Because he wasn’t. Actually, no. He was fucking pissed the oversized newt was laughing at his expense. He demonstrated this by crossing his arms and sending the damn eye his best threatening scowl.  
_And that only serves to amuse me more my queen, your face is just too beautiful to gaze upon to spike any true fear in me. Besides, we both know that you couldn’t ‘stab me in the face’. Even if you had the means, your heart and soul would never allow you to harm me_.  
What. The. Actual. Fuck. That was spoken directly into his head. The dragon was in his head, it was in his head, CASTIEL WAS IN HIS HEAD.  
_As you are in mine, Precious. My love, my only, my beloved Dean._  
“first of all, you freaking evil son of bitch. I am not your anything. Not your beloved, your only or your ‘precious’. You are a delusional piece of shit who kidnaps people to freaking cuddle them and invade their minds. Well, if you think I am going to play along, then you are sorely mistaken. I am not going to roll over and let you rub my belly, you fugly scarecrow.”  
He stood up in the middle of the Dragons palm and tried to stare him down through the one eye that was visible. Then he was falling. Dean watched that eye move farther from him, he could only see a blur of blue with tendrils of black. Not to be dramatic or anything, but he was pretty sure this fall would kill him. He squeezed his eyes shut and curled into as small as a ball as he could manage.  
With a thump he landed once again in the dragon’s palm, who lowered him the rest of the way to the floor and pinned him beneath said foot. The weight on his chest was almost unbearable and his entire body was covered by Castiel’s ginormous foot, except his head, and even that was held facing straight up between two of the toes. Castiel leaned his head forward so that he was more or less looking into both of Dean’s eyes before he spoke in a deadly calm, the kind of calm only psychopath can achieve, and it seriously sent chills down his spine;  
_You are mine. Your body, your soul and your mind belong to me. Your place is by my side, with me at all times. You can argue, rant, rave and deny it, but the truth is you feel at home here, you feel safer here than you ever did in that petty excuse of a fortress. Even as you vehemently reject the facts, your soul calls to mine, it reaches for its other half, and they only just touch before being unable to go any further because of your stupid human-ish need to withdraw and isolate anything that doesn’t fit with the role your pitiful parents/ancestors gave to you. He leaned ever closer, the tip of his snout brushing Dean’s nose. From the outside looking in, it looked as though he was about to devour him whole. Remember this my queen, even if you were able to escape this cave, even if you were able to evade me, it would not last long, for a dragon never loses its treasure, never loses a part of his hoard, and your own heart and soul would drive you back to me, even if they had to override your conscious mind. You would always come back to me. For you’re a part of me, the most important part, my precious. I refuse to lose myself._  
Dean sucked in a harsh breath, hi schest heaving as much as it could under the weight the dragon was putting on it. And calling upon all of his courage, he probably delievered the lamest comeback of all comebacks.  
“I HATE YOU!! I AM NO PART OF YOU!!!”  
_You can never hate that which makes you whole._ (IMPORTANT NOTE!! THIS IS NOT MY LINE, IT IS FROM THE SHOW MERLIN, SOMEWHERE IN SEASON ONE, KILLAGARRAH SAYS THIS TO MERLIN WHEN MERLIN TELLS HIM ARTHUR COULDN’T BE THE OTHER HALF OF HIS COIN BECAUSE HE HATES HIM. BTW, I THINK MERLIN WAS TOTALLY MENT TO GAY, BECAUSE SERIOUSLY THEY ARE TWO HALVES OF THE SAME WHOLE!!! OKAY, OKAY. JUST WANTED TO LET YOU KNOW).  
Then Cas fucking licked him. Dean didn’t even have a chance to respond. He just removed his foot and licked Dean from the bottom of his feet, which were somehow barefoot, the top of his head. Being extra careful around the bite mark on his neck. Dean did his best to squirm away, considering his wasn’t really being held down by anything but a tongue, which is just _gross_. But fuckin Cas just Wrapped his tongue around Dean’s waist and pulled him closer to his mouth. And yes, dear reader, you fucking read that right, his fucking _tongue_. Of course, Dean panicked. Don’t judge, if a giant ass lizard used its tongue to pick you up and bring you closer to its mouth you would freak too. And thus, he started screaming and using Cas’ own words against him, or tried to since he didn’t really understand what was going on.  
‘what the fuck are you doing? If I am so precious to you why are you going to eat me? Is this to keep me from running? You don’t really need to eat me for that do you?’  
_Relax little one, I am not going to eat you. I am merely scent marking you, to let anything that may come across you know who you belong to. Not that I plan on letting you leave my side, but it satisfies my instincts for you to smell like me._  
Dean was just formulating a response when the mountain began shaking. Castiel’s tongue dropped him into his waiting palm, Castiel surged to his feet and whipped his head towards what Dean presumed was the entrance to his den? Lair? Home? Whatever. He lifted his snout into the air and took a deep breath through his nose. Whatever he smelled pissed him off, because he let out a ferocious growl and clutched Dean to his chest. Dean could honestly say he wasn’t enjoying himself right now.  
Castiel looked down at Dean and then towards the door and back towards Dean. He seemed to contemplate something before apparently coming to a decision. He nodded to himself and brought Dean up to his face, opened his maw dropped Dean into it and swallowed him whole.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Castiel’s POV~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
How dare he!?!?! How dare he trespass onto Castiel’s territory!! After all these years, after everything he has done, why come here? Well there was only one way to find out. Castiel sat back on his haunches and waited for his brother to show his face. He fixed his gaze on the entrance and wondered if he was even able to find the entrance or if the mountain shakes were from him hitting it out of frustration? Maybe Castiel should go look for him, but he didn’t really want to talk to him… but if he hadn’t found the entrance did Castiel really want him to? If he didn’t already know where it was maybe Castiel could keep it that way. Well that settles it, Castiel is going to go find his brother. He raised himself to his feet and began the journey through the maze that led to his den. It was very dark, dark enough that even with his dragon sight he had a hard time seeing and it twisted and veered off into many different directions. Sometimes it felt like he was going up and other times it felt as though he was going down, down into the pits of hell. There were a great many pathways to take down here so Castiel subtlety marked every turn. Sometimes even became lost, hopefully that would protect him from his brother. if it turned out to be necessary to run. He did not want to fight his brother, so he would have to flee.

Sure, enough when Castiel emerged from behind the boulder that hid the maze from being immediately seen, there was his brother, or should he say brothers, standing in the small cave entrance before the maze. (yes, the route to his home was very complicated and there were many entrances one would have to go through to get to the cavern that was his den. Yes, Castiel knew how paranoid that made him). He was not sure if he was happy to see them of if he wanted to rip their ugly mugs off their heads. He settled for seeing what they wanted.  
“what are you two doing here?”  
Both dragons whipped around to face him, both visibly relieved to see him standing there. The shorter red one began rapid fire questions and he advanced towards Castiel.  
“Cassy, baby bro, how are doing? Why are you so thin? Is that blood I smell? Are you injured?”  
Castiel took a step back. He gave a warning hiss when his brother kept advancing.  
“why do you care Gabriel? After driving me from home, leaving me injured, alone and terrified, why ask now?”  
Gabriel took a step back, looking positively crestfallen. Maybe with a hint, or an idea of tears playing in his eyes.  
“I am so sorry. I didn’t realize how badly injured you were. I thought you were right behind me and didn’t take the time to look back because I was afraid… of it. I…”  
Castiel shot to his feet and roared. “SO, YOU LEFT ME TO THE MERCY OF IT??? I WAS STILL YOUNG GABRIEL!! THEN IT ATTACKED, AND YOU LEFT ME!! YOU LEFT ME TO IT!!! THE ONLY REASON I SURVIVED IS BECAUSE IT BELIEVED I WAS DEAD”  
Castiel sat back and tried to catch his breath.  
“you were ordered to get rid of me weren’t you. I am gone now. I am not there anymore, I haven’t been home for centuries. Why come back to finish the job now? How did you even find me?”  
Gabriel opened his mouth to reply but was cut off by the other brother, the taller silver one, the most severe brother, Michael.  
“Castiel, he was not supposed to get rid of you. We are your family, you are our baby brother, we could never for any reason want to be rid of you. Gabriel was supposed to take care of you that day. Make sure you didn’t get into any trouble, we should have thought better than to think the Trickster would ever behave. We went back to look for you, but all we found was it, we have been looking for you centuries. We thought you were gone until Elder Jeremiah told us he had spoken to you in the general area of the Kingdom of Winchester. From there we followed you scent, but it disappeared right here. Castiel we have come to take you home. Where you belong.”

Castiel shook his head. He couldn't believe them right now, couldn't believe that Elder Jeremiah would rat him out, couldn't believe that they wanted him to come home, couldn't even believe they were here, and he couldn't leave here.  
" I cannot. I cannot go back. I have things here"  
He looked up pleading, hoping that this wouldn't ruin the tentative hope of being re-united with his kind, with his kin, his family. But he couldn't leave. Michael seemed to understand what he was trying to portray, because he took in a sharp breath and said:  
" your soul has chosen".

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so comment are greatly appreciated. thank you for your patience. I had a lot of personal issues to deal with. and school work and work and I just signed away my life. but since I hate it when people abandon stories I will finish this.


	5. Regrets

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> super short chapter about regret

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize? I have no real excuses except I hate my life. and this is short.

Sam's POV

Even since Dean was taken Sam had an unhealthy obsession with Dragons. He wanted to know everything there was to know about them, he wanted to know what the dragon would want with his brother, and most importantly how to kill one. He read and annotated, analyzed, cross-referenced every book ever written about dragons and even ones that only mentioned dragons in passing. He now knew everything mankind knew about dragons. Which was as follows;

  1. They were reptiles
  2. They were impossible to kill
  3. Nobody had ever killed one.
  4. On record only three people have ever injured a dragon (four including Dean)
  5. *Where there is one dragon, others are sure to follow.



That is, it. That is all mankind knows about dragons. All that time he spent reading and taking notes _wasted_ , because it was all things he pretty much knew. Absolutely none of it would help him save Dean. None of it would resurrect his hero.

It was all pointless.

_*Thump thump* "Sam, honey, are you in there?"�_

Sam turned his head at the sound of his mother's voice, or should he say the worn out broken version of his mother's voice. Losing Dean had hit her as hard as it hit Sam, if not harder since she blamed herself for his Unexpected departure. A small part of Sam did too. Most people were sure that Dean was gone for good, not just that they will never find him, but that his soul has departed this realm and he is wherever people go when they die. His father was one of those. He'd say that there had been too much blood, too much damage to the dungeons, (which had collapsed) that even if he had survived the dragon's attack he wouldn't have survived the subsequent collapse or the frigid temperatures that followed and even if the dragon had taken Dean like Sam claimed it had, then he was most assuredly dead, because dragons were not known for their friendly ways.   So everyone but Sam and Mary had given up on Dean. Even Mary's hope was flagging, she constantly argued with John, who had begun grieving his eldest son, and their inability to see eye to eye often saw them in separate beds, and Mary really couldn't sleep without him and his lack of support took so much out of her. While she helped Sam research, and used her power as queen to enquire about dragon experts, she was more a bane than a boon. And Sam really hated to think about his mother that way, so whenever she asked he would show his findings and discus with her their next course of action.

But deep down he knew he was losing her, not just her support and help in finding Dean but her. She was slowly becoming a shadow of herself and even if she lived, the mother he knew would be gone. To make matters worse, he knew she would live in absolute agony and misery for him, so that he and his father would not lose another, and he hated how grateful he was for her self-sacrificing ways.

So he put away his books, and notes and let his mother into his chambers. He made her some tea and tried his very best to just be a good son. To take care of her for once, to help her find some peace, and he knew he was failing. He wasn't good at comforting people, or being solid support or a shoulder to cry on or even somebody to chase away the nightmares. That was Dean, for all his brashness and stoicism, he was the one you went to when you were at you lowest and made you believe that what you had was enough, and he did it all without being girly or even admitting he had emotions. Sam would just cry with you.

And now, without Dean the family was falling apart, his parents were falling apart, and Sam was falling apart. And all he could do was hold onto his mother as they both cried and watch his world fall.

All because he couldn't save Dean. 


	6. soulmates

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> why me?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> new chapter. yay. leave the comments.

Dean was experiencing a hurricane of emotions. They were all jumbled together and none of them made any sense since at least half of them contradicted the other half. First and foremost, he felt safe. Which was freaking insane since he was SWALLOWED BY A DAMN DRAGON. Second, he felt the sting of betrayal, like some part of him believed the damn lizard when he said he wouldn't eat him. Third, he freaking felt at _home._ Like he belonged here, inside of dragons'¦ he didn't where he was since there was a distinct lack of stomach acid and other digestive juices. Then of course he was irate. Which he felt was justified since he was swallowed by a dragon. But then again, he felt freaking touched. Like swallowing him whole was just a way the dragon could take care of him. Like that even made sense to him at this moment, but it didn't make sense at because the was fucking crazy.

Then there was what he felt physically. He felt calm, and yes, I know what you're thinking, calm is a state of mind, but in this case regardless of my inner turmoil my body was calm, steady heartbeat, even breathes, eyes that examined every detail they could in the darkness, fingers that gently stoked the walls of my prison. And yes, I can control my body, if I actively focus on breathing harder I will, if I want to dart my eyes from one corner to the other I can, if I want to kick and scream and scratch and bite at the walls I can. Nothing stops me, except when I stop thinking about doing those things my body just,¦ calms down. It's weird and irrational. I can also hear the beast's heartbeats. My own hearts thuds to same beat now, with nothing to really do I have taken my own pulse and noticed my hearts beats match up to Cas' the reptiles. Â And he was warm, cozy. His body was gently cradled by the walls, and they seemed to curl around him, and they were cushy. Like a couch cushion or a mattress, and silky smooth.

Oh yeah. He could breathe here. Like it was fresh air, cool and crisp but quickly warmed from being in the dragon, so Dean had no worries about suffocating. The problem was sound. Dean could here when Castiel was speaking. He could even here what was happening outside of Castiel's body, for example if somebody was talking to Castiel. But he couldn't make out _what_ they were saying. Not evening what Cas was saying. He had a better idea of what Cas was saying but it was hard to hear over the sound of his heart. He could tell that the whatever was being was upsetting Castiel because his heart rate increased, but then again when the reptiles heart rate increased so _did Dean's._ Sometimes causing Dean to feel woozy. Â When this happened, Dean tried to get Castiel's attention. He stood up and shouted and pinched the walls, but his agitation only served to increase Castiel's agitation and a feeling of unworthiness would flood Dean, like he was failing somebody dear to him and it was just one long rambled on sentence of an experience.

Eventually it was all too much for Dean, his _fragile human body_ could only take so much, and he passed out (his blood pressure sky rocketed, and he fainted).

When he returned to land of the living, Dean noticed he was no longer inside of Castiel. Instead he was curled up under the dragon's chin, near his pulse point so he could still hear his heart beat, still so infuriatedly in sync with his own. And he felt safe, warm, like he belonged right where he was.

It pissed him off. He didn't belong here, he belonged at home in his castle, disobeying half of his parents' orders, following the others to the letter and being groomed to take over a kingdom. He belonged with Sam, teasing him about his long girly hair and messing with his book collection. He belonged in the pastures with his beloved horse, practicing archery with his men. Not here in some cave with an overgrown lizard that insists on calling him a _queen_ even though he was obviously a _guy._ The hell if he wasn't going to make his feelings known.

Thump. Thump. "hey!! Wake up, you smelly gigantic newt!!! I said wake the fuck Up!!!"�

+++++++++++++++++Castiel's Pov++++++++++++++

Castiel was awoken by his queen

pounding on the side of his neck and once again yelling profanities, and insults to his person. Castiel took a deep breathe in (for grounding reason, for he was just a tad angry at this awakening, and his queen’s insistence in insulting him) and was pleased to note that said queen was absolutely covered in his scent. This fact pleased his instincts greatly, so greatly in fact that he was no longer annoyed at his rude awakening. He lifted his head and leveled it with Dean’s, so they were roughly looking each other in the eye.   
“what do you need my precious?”   
Dean raised his chin and asked the question that burns in everyone’s minds. “why me?”  
Castiel sighed. “because as I have told you before, you are my soulmate”  
Dean huffed angrily. “you’re trying to tell me that soulmates exist and that the man upstairs pre-destined this? That we’re meant and made for each other since the very beginning of time? Give me a break!!”   
Castiel starred, dumbfounded. “wherever did you get an idea like that?”  
Dean was perplexed. “isn’t that how soulmates work?”  
“no”  
“oh, then how do they work?’  
“ well first of all, nobody has a pre-destined anything. Maybe two or three beings have a purpose, or ‘I wish you would accomplish this’ but nothing is written in stone. Your destiny is decided by the choices you make, your lovers, your career, your willingness to accept that somethings are out of your control. There are no pre-destined soulmates. Soulmates themselves are a choice. Just not one your conscience mind makes. Your soul makes this choice. Your soul is you in your purest form. It is everything you, and in a way all that you will become. It learns and absorbs information faster than your mortal mind and thus becomes infinitely wiser than you. Furthermore, you soul is not bound by social concepts, or the laws of the physical world, or the demands the world places on you. It is free from all that and will do what it decides is best. And it cannot lie. Your soul is completely and utterly honest, if you’re rotten to the core, your soul will be honest about it, and about all the things you have done to become that way. So basically, you were not my soulmate before that day I met you. When I met you, and took an interest in you so did my soul take an interest in your soul. While we battled our souls communicated and together came to the conclusion that they had found the other soul that would complete them. Not only that, but they believed they would find no better match, and tied us together. This tie is unbreakable, it is that tugging on your soul to be with me, and it begs us to bond.”  
“what do you mean bond? You just said we were tied together!!”  
“a tie is different from a bond. While the tie is unbreakable, and irreversible, it is only the beginning. You must make the conscience decision to bond with this being that your soul has chosen for you. The bond is stronger than the tie, and it is what fully makes you mine, and I yours. Technically you can ignore a tie, you will always yearn for me, you will always come back to me, you will feel unwell when you are away from me, but you can live with it. You take another as mate, it will hurt but you can do it. You cannot deny a bond. You cannot ignore it, at all not even the half-ass shits you can do with a tie. When we fully bond, I can better equip you to be my queen.”  
Castiel watched as Dean processed what he had been told, he watched as Dean furiously ran his hands through his hair and grabbed fistfuls.   
“why?” Dean asked.  
“because your soul chose me. And mine chose you. Our souls are wiser and honest in a way we cannot achieve without…. Dying really. Your soul is you, in your purest form. It’s what you truly wanted. It’s what I wanted. And now you’re my queen. My precious. My treasure. I will follow you through hell, heaven and everything in between.”   
And Dean just stood there. Staring at Castiel before screaming, ´son of a bitch” and taking off towards the exit.   
And out of the cave before Castiel even knew what to do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tell me what ya think. please. need some ideas.


	7. The House

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> there is more to the cave than meets the eye.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i am alive!! i had a lot of things going on, like i was failing a class and had to work on that, and work and my tire fell off my car as i was driving and being broke i had no way to fix it. So here is a chapter i hope you enjoy and try not to hate me too much for the delay.

Castiel found Dean hours later, curled up in circular room that Castiel didn’t even know existed. It had a clear stream of water that cascaded down the wall into a deceptively shallow looking pool. The room was lit by the sunlight streaming through a translucent kind of rock. It was beautiful and serene. It had a calming quality to it and he could see why his queen felt safe enough to sleep here. It seemed of lavender, probably because of the lavender growing off to the side of the pool, because strangely in this room there was grass covering the floor. It was soft underneath his feet and sprang back up after he moved away.   
This room was in part of the cave maze that Castiel hadn’t yet explored, and now he was curious enough to do it. He wanted to know what other wonders were held in this network of stone hallways. He walked over to his queen and checked to make sure he was breathing, he also checked his claiming bite for infection. While Dean had already begun the changes that would make him into the perfect queen, he was still so alarmingly fragile and prone to infections. Castiel was worried that one was setting in since his Queen spent a lot of time unconscious. He knew nothing about human illness and decided to borrow a book about them from the elder. Until then he would just make sure his queen was okay and explore the rest of lair, maybe if he gave his queen some space he would be more receptive to his advances.   
\----------several hours later---------  
(Cas left Dean alone in what I am calling the bathing room. Spoiler! Dean is gonna renovate this whole cave)   
Upon his explorations Castiel discovered a few things; one being that this wasn’t a naturally occurring cave. It was built as though somebody wanted an underground house. Castiel didn’t know a whole lot about human dwellings but from the book he read and saw in Dean’s home, this cave was constructed with a human in mind. He discovered that his maze wasn’t really a maze. It was like a long hallway that sloped downward that had several openings. It stopped twisting and the false hallways and room stopped about halfway down. From there it seemed someone had started to install a door. Right next to the “doorway” was a small room on the left that someone had carved shelves near the bottom and railings near the top. He didn’t know what for. Farther down but still on the left, is the hallway that led to the circular room. It contained a small alcove with more shelves and broken door hinges, another room with railings and small raised pools fo water, that was constantly churning (like a washer). A string was attached to from one wall to the other. The room next to this was the one he left his queen in. back down the hallway and making a left turn there was another doorway, partially hidden by rocks that fallen, and straight down the hallway was the room Castiel had put doors on and used as his den. The room with the collapsed doorway appeared to be a bedroom, as it had a bed, dresser and a fireplace, across the hall from that there was a kitchen with a wood burning cooking stove and counters and cabinets and another door at the end. This room had more shelves and hooks on the wall and gasp another door. This contained stairs that lead downward. At the bottom of the stairs there was a big empty space. Nothing was in it. In the space he had originally claimed he found another door, this one had stairs going upward. Up stairs there was more bedrooms and one large room that had plants. The whole ceiling was made of some translucent rock that let lift flood in and the floor was made of the same stuff. In this room there was fruit trees and bushes and bees. There was flowers and foods and it looked like a wild garden and Castiel had no idea that this was here and wondered how in as long as he lived here, that he never knew. How in the world did he not see that this was a house? Carved out of stone and hidden from the world. How?   
(note; most of the doorways had collapsed and with out proper lighting the hallways seem to stretch into eternity. It is supposed to confuse people and make them get lost, intruders are not meant to survive. That is why Castiel didn’t know. There is magic in the stone, and Castiel only had permission to use that one room, unbeknownst to him, when he brought Dean home with him, that magic recognized a mated pair and opened the rest of the house. Without knowing about it, if you managed to find it, it would just look like a cave. The house was made by a mated pair for a mated pair, and no one else would have it.)  
-Dean-  
When Dean woke up he was surprised to find that he was alone. Ever since he got here that damn dragon was with him his every waking moment and probably his every non-waking moment. He was confused as to why he was alone now. The cave wasn’t nearly as big as he thought it was and seemed to be actually some kind of house. (it is. And the magic recognizes him as the lady of the house. That is important to know btw. Keep it in mind when some things do not seem to add up) He rose to his feet and noticed a different doorway to the one he came through and decided to investigate, inside he found… toilets?( like toilets you would find in an outhouse, raised holes in the ground) This room contained toilets and sinks ( like and old fashioned sink with a water pump) with the customary cupboard underneath, and towel racks. He shrugged his shoulders and relieved himself and washed his hands and decided that he would explore while he had his alone time.   
He didn’t make it very far. Almost as soon as he left the bathing room he ran into Castiel, who for some reason was in his human form. Castiel seemed pleased to see him awake.   
Dean!! I am so glad you have awoken!! I want to show you something that I just discovered!! If you would please..?  
Castiel stretched his hand towards Dean and just waited. He didn’t grab him, he didn’t demand, it was as if he was giving him a choice… and for some reason Dean gave him his and allowed Castiel to interlock their fingers. Castiel smiled broadly and gently tugged Dean along behind him. *Dean felt all warm and fuzzy inside*. He led him into the room he first woke up in and brought him over to a door Dean hadn’t noticed before, Cas swung it open to reveal… Stairs.   
You wanted to show me stairs? Dean deadpanned.  
Of course not! It is up the stairs!  
Fine then. Lead the way.  
( remember the ceilings are high enough that Castiel’s dragon form stands up with room to spare.) ten minutes later.   
Omg, stairs are evil. My worst enemy. This is how I die. Dean whined. He wiped sweat from his brow as Cas looked unimpressed.   
We are not even halfway my queen.   
What!?! You mean there is more? More!?!? HOW FAR IS IT?!?! HOW DO YOU EXPECT ME TO SURVIVE!?!?   
Cas gaped. You ran into battle against a dragon with a tiny metal toothpick almost fearlessly, confident that you would win and some stairs are going to be the death of you?!?!?! Explain this to me.   
Dean panted. You were softer than stairs. You were nicer than stairs. Look at these things, they’re mocking me.   
There are inanimate objects, they cannot mock you.   
Dean glared. But they are!!   
Cas rolled his eyes. We will never get there at this rate. Can I just carry you?   
Dean looked at him suspiciously. You won’t try any funny business?   
None. You have my word.   
No. what kind of man would I be if I let myself be carried like some damsel.   
And with that he started pulling Cas up the stairs.  
*twenty minutes later*   
Cas ended up dragging Dean down the hall towards the jungle room. Dean would not take another step, but he refused to be carried by his overgrown lizard kidnapper. So, Cas ended up just dragging him by his armpits. When he got close to the door he kicked it open and hoisted his queen onto his feet.   
Wow Cas! This is amazing! Did you do this yourself!?  
Cas chuckled. No, I was unaware of this room before today. I was unaware of everything besides my den room before today.   
Say what?   
I only used the one room and apparently never properly explored. I found out about the room you were in only today, as I was looking for you. I decided to see what else I was missing out on, and I found a whole house. And these bees!! Aren’t they adorable!? Have you ever seen anything so precious in your life!  
Cas continued to ramble, and for some reason Dean didn’t mind and just listened.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for reading!!


	8. Wake me up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Waking up next to you isn't the worst thing to happen to me.

Hello Readers. I have some bad news. This story may be postponed for a undetermined amount of time. I live in the United States and have enlisted in the Armed Forces, some time ago. I had delusions of grandeur that I was going to update at the  _very least_ twice a month and yet I can barely manage once a month. My final months here have been some of the most stressful in my life and I cannot begin to describe to you how busy I have been. I hate to leave it unfinished and thus will be most definitely coming back to it. You may receive a bunch of craptastic chapters just to get it done, or I will be updating when I can, which I cannot guarantee. 

It has also been brought to my attention that my grammar, capitalization and punctuation are not up to par. This is most likely because I have issues with typing onto this site. Half the time it does not save my drafts or it deletes half the chapters or contents. I write on a different program and copy and paste it here to post it. The format doesn't translate correctly and I have to go and fix it again and I miss things. I apologize if you have been silently agonizing over this.

The good news is that this is an actual chapter and not just a rundown of my life. I was watching Annabelle while writing this, you have been warned.

Wake Me Up

Castiel's POV

Castiel didn't remember falling asleep, but he must have since he was waking up. He didn't remember curling around his Queen but he must have. He must of half shifted out of his human form, because he was larger than a human male with wings and a tail. He was lying curled on his side, with one wing underneath him and the other draped over him and Dean. Their legs were tangled and his tailed coiled around their lower halves to end up encircling his Queen's waist to entangle with his own fingers. His Queens face was smushed into his chest and his hands clenched fistfuls of Castiel's tunic. As sweet and wonderful as it was to cuddle with his treasure, Castiel's arm had fallen asleep and he wasn't entirely sure it wasn't a goner. 

The problem though was that he was quite literally tangled up in his own limbs. He decided to remove his tail first since it was wrapped around his hands and lower appendages, but that proved fruitless when he discovered his tail was stuck on his own foot. So he tried to pull his foot out of a loop in his tail and got stuck on Dean's foot. So he slid his hands around Dean's waist and tried to pull him up his body so that his foot came out of the loop. The friction on *ahem* certain areas of his body, caused a slight *problem* and he was still stuck. He contemplated his options, he could wake Dean up, but then Dean would be super grumpy and complain about being kidnapped and deprived of sleep; he could just stay where he was and let his arm die, and hope his problem goes away on its own. Or he could just maneuver Dean around and hopefully find a more comfortable position so he could enjoy a rare moment of peace with his gem. He decided He was just gonna treat this like a hang nail, just yank it. Castiel slid his hands down to his queens somewhat surprisingly round booty ( he figured it would be less bubble butt and more firm muscular butt), and just  _gently_ yanked him upwards so that instead of his face being pressed to his chest it rested in the crook of Castiel's neck. Then he froze for two reasons, he wanted to make sure Dean was still sleeping and the pins and needles sensation was gonna be the death of him.  _He never had this problem in dragon form. why the hell do humans gotta have so many problems? is this why his Queen is so prickly? his body just doesn't allow him to be comfortable?_ He took a deep breath and slowly let it out, he could feel his queens even breathing and assumed he was still asleep. ( lol, never assume, makes an ass out of u and me.) He tried to move his feet again to be reminded that while he successfully moved Dean, both of their feet were still stuck in his tail, and now his wing felt all kinds of sore. 

"why the hell do I have to have so many appendages? why the hell did I fall asleep in human form knowing damn well I wasn't good at holding it. why am I so stupid?" 

Dean smiled against his neck, still breathing those deep even breathes. 

"Because you're a reptile and reptiles aren't known for their intelligence." 

(Disclaimer: I know nothing about the intelligence of reptiles, If you have one and believe they are the best thing since sliced bread don't let this story tell you any different.) 

Castiel frowned. " I am very intelligent, I outwitted your entire pathetic excuse of a guard, and they still haven't found you." 

Dean stretched, throwing his arms above his head ( narrowly avoiding decking Cas in the snoze) and rolled onto his back. He pouted up at Cas, and  _damn if that pout didn't do things to him, he would move heaven, hell and everything in between if his queen asked for while shooting this look his way. Castiel rued the day he figured it out._ " I've been here, what three days? give'em a break, you take three steps and you're here. ( Monster Inc. line. giving credit where it's due) Plus you have done nothing but shown you're not smart enough to treat a royal right. You keep calling me queen but you haven't treated me like one."( Deans been with Castiel longer then three days, being underground has thrown off his sense of time since he can't see the sun rise and such, plus he was unconscious a great deal in this story.) 

Castiel cocked his head, he has treated his queen adequately, cuddling him, keeping him safe, marking him, scent marking him, feeding him while he was unconscious. Maybe that's why he believes he is ill treated. He has yet to be awake for the feedings. His queen hasn't been very cooperative when awake though. " I have been treating you just fine, what are you supposedly lacking?"

Dean's jaw dropped, then he rolled his eyes. " seriously dude? A BED. I have woken up either on the goddamn floor or sprawled all over you. I am a prince and princes don't sleep on the floor. Its unacceptable."

"What's a bed?"

" you don't know?"

"I wouldn't be asking if I didn't know, besides I quite prefer you where you are. and the nest is more than an acceptable place of rest." 

Dean blinked slowly. Then stared at Castiel for a long minute or two, then just as slowly he opened then closed his mouth. 

" you were just complaining about how uncomfortable you were, and you didn't know why you had to do this to yourself. Besides,  **I don't like it where I am.** " 

Castiel shrugged. " sometimes in life we come across things we don't like, and we just have to deal with them. Especially if the person who does like it stronger then you." 

Quick as lightening Castiel swooped down and stole a kiss from Dean's lips, pulled back and was on his feet before Dean could even sputter. Dean's mouth gaped open and he blushed a deep red. 

"YOU MOTHERFUCKER!!!! WHEN I CATCH YOU, YOU'RE DEAD!!"

**OMG A TIME SKIP, PASSING OF TIME, WHATEVER YOU WANNA CALL IT.**

Dean's POV

In the end, Dean wasn't able to catch Castiel. The motherfucker just  _literally flew_ down the damn stairs, and disappeared only to reappear and ambush Dean. These ambushes ranged from tickling Dean to hugging him to  _making out with him._ One ambush consisted of Castiel picking him off his feet and flying him to the top of the cave and dropping and waiting till the last goddamn minute to fucking save him.

Dean was fucking exhausted, and couldn't move another inch even if he wanted to. He was unable to sleep tho, for the fact that he was fucking cold and homesick. Running around this place reminded him of when he used to run around the castle with Sammy. Except Sammy was the one chasing and Dean was the uncatchable one. He wondered about family, were they looking for him, were they worried about him, did they miss him like he missed them? A few tears leaked out, and he angrily scrubbed them away. He wouldn't cry, Castiel wouldn't break him. He would escape, he would make it back to Sammy and mom, dad and the kingdom. Ignoring the burn in his thighs, he rose to his feet and began stumbling towards the nearest doorway, he would get out of here. He would make it home. 

**Gabriel's POV**

I was camping outside little bros cave, ya know just to make sure everything was okay. If he decided to leave he would have to go through Gabe and then he would make him talk and then maybe he could convince him to come home.  So as he's just chilling here, he hears some noise coming from behind a big boulder at the back of the cave, he turned expecting to see his baby bro but Imagine his surprise when instead of Castiel a pretty little trinket came out. A pretty little trinket that just reeked of his bro, saturated in his scent even. He knew then that Castiel would not come home, not while this trinket was here, not while it breathed. 

**Dean's POV**

Goddamn it. There's another one. 

 


	9. what are you afraid of?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> there are very few things dragons are afraid of.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guess what? another update. And guess what? I better get some comments because I fucking need the damn praise, acknowledgement that you read my shit.

There are very few things that dragons are afraid of, and even fewer things that actually pose a threat to them. For adult dragons, the number one fear is losing their family, folllowed by losing their hoard, and facing "it". For fledging dragons, their utmost fear is 'it'. "It" cannot be described becasue nobody has ever seen "it" and lived to tell the tale. Believe it or not there are no recorded tales of "it" to begin with. It leaves not a trace, makes no sound and no one has ever seen "it". The only reason they know "it" even exists is becasue it never moves, countless adults and imeaserable amount of fledgings have disappeared around the same area. Some but not all of their body parts are flung back towards the dragon colony. It took some time to figure out the perimeter of "its" space. If you stay out of it, then nothing happens if you go in then good bye. OF course, the dragons did not stand for this, as soon as they narrowed it down and reasoned out where "it" could  be, they attacked. Dragons are naturally possessive and prideful creatures, and heaven forbid they teach whatever it was a lesson.

They were not victorious. For the first time ever, all the bodies came back in a hail of limbs and blood, showering over those who had stayed behind. And for the first time, "it" left its territory and slaughtered those outside the borders. Only a few dozen survived the attack, and it was mainly those who could not gaze upon the beast, and had no hope of defending themselves. They were essentially the weakest dragons who lived there. 

They were unable to clean up the carnage and unable to tend to their wounds, for they were the elderly, the children, the blind, the disabled, those who die without help anyway. A few days after the slaughter a small hunting party comprised of the young, strong and untried returned home and discovered the wreckage. One of the younger survivors who had the best hearing had to explain the carnage. The leader of the group decided not to try "it" again and found it best to move away from the territory it had claimed as its own. 

And thus the first dragon fears were born. 

In the new settlement, the population grew slowly, for there was only so many that could reproduce and only so many that were willing. Any children born were warned of the dangers of it the moment they were able to understand what it meant. 

This is how it went for centuries, with nobody bothering "it". 

Until two fledglings broke the rules. 

Like human children, dragon siblings bickered and had to be babysat and had to baby sit their younger siblings. Gabriel was a few years older than Castiel, five years to be exact and was charged with keeping his baby brother entertained. But being a ten year old made Gabriel too cool to play with babies and he decided to ditch his bro. He knew if his parents caught him skipping out of his duties he would be severely punished, so he decided he would have to leave the younger one farther away from the family home. 

He decided the forbidden planes would be good enough, the forbidden planes getting their name from the fact that they were  _forbidden because that's where **it** lived. _ So nobody was likely to bother him or discover the baby left unattended. Like most children he knew he wasn't supposed to go their and he knew why, but it was just a story to scare children into behaving right? 

So he told his mother he was going to play hide and seek with the baby and she agreed and set them on their way with a kiss. Gabriel led the baby towards the plains, hid him behind a rock and told him to count while Gabe hid. Then Gabe took off. 

Hours later, when the dusk began to creep over the horizon, Gabe was on his way home exhausted having wrestled and practiced his swimming with his friends all day long. He was about to walk into the doorway when he remembered he was supposed to be watching baby, and he was without said baby. He checked to make sure nobody saw him before booking it all the way to the plains and the rock he had left Cassy Baby behind. Except it wasn't the right rock, and the next one was wrong too, so on and so forth, The sun had already set when he found the correct rock, Except and you guessed it, the baby wasn't there anymore. 

Gabe began to panic, and frantically called out his brothers name. "CASSY!!! CASSY BABY!!! CASTIEL WHERE ARE YOU?!?!?!" Further into the plains he heard crying, and it sounded like Cassy!!! He sprinted toward the sound and when his brother came into view he was about ready to start sobbing too. When he had closed half the distance between him and his brother shouting all the way "CASSY BABY!! BIG BROTHERS HERE?? I AM HERE TO TAKE YOU HOME!!" the ground started to rumble, and lightening split across the sky before striking the ground between them, the ground started to crack and deep fissures began appearing. A deafening roar echoes right before the thunder, Gabe could hear the baby screaming. "Gab, sawe mee!! Gab, I want mommy!! GABBY!!!" A shadow rose up, black mist rose from the fissures, Castiel screamed one last time before falling silent. 

Gabe took a look towards the spot Cas had been, turned tail and ran. 

And that was the last day they saw Cas, before Cas found His Queen. 

**Present Day.**

Dean was not at all pleased to see anther dragon, especially one that looked like he was constipated. He(she? It?) looked like it didn't know whether to eat him, kidnap him, or simply ignore him.  So they just started at each other, sizing each other up and trying to get in the other's head. Suddenly the dragon' s eyes narrowed, and It leaned forward before puffing a smoke ring around Dean. 

" aren't you Cas' pretty little trinket? Watcha doing out here? Ain't Cas afraid that you're going to escape or some other greedy dragon is gonna scoop up a such a pretty little trinket such as yourself?'

Dean narrowed his own eyes, and crossed his arms. " I am not pretty, I am manly first of all, secondly What's it to you? third, I don't give a flying fuck about what the blue overgrown chameleon wants."

The dragons brow scrunched and he ( Dean was pretty sure it was a he now, it sounded like a male and gave the silent how ya doing in a way only a man can) seemed shocked that Dean had spoken back. The shock slowly morphed into rage before his face nearly split in two by the smile that spread across his face. The dragon threw its head back, and  _roared_ with laughter. It laughed so hard tears came out of his eyes and he started wheezing for breath. 

" oh my *gasp* sweet honey suckle *gasp* you're a fiery pretty little trinket* gasp* Castiel sure can pick'em. * gasp* I like you. "

Dean scoffed and jerked his gaze away from the dragon, "well I don't like you or him, ya"ll can rot for all I care" 

Dean suddenly found himself pinned to a cave wall, talons digging into the stone around him before coming face to face with dragon. 

"you can insult me, you can say what you will about me, but  _ **you will not insult my baby bro.**_ I lost him once, I ain't gonna lose him again to the likes of you."

Dean sucked in oxygen, cleared his throat and asked" he's you're brother and you wanna protect him from pain? " The Dragon nodded " you would do anything to make sure he wasn't suffering, even if it meant your own? " another nod. " I know how ya feel, I have my own little brother. the last time he saw me your brother was biting into my neck." 

The dragon's eyes softened, and he released Dean. " My names Gabe. I'm sorry your brother has to mourn your absence, I know what its like to lose a brother, and I just found him again. I cannot lose him again to nothing, especially not to you. Except he won't leave without you, and he doesn't want to bring you home. It's too dangerous for a human in dragon territory." 

Dean raised his hands placating; " I'm Dean and I don't want to take your brother from you, I just want to go back to my family. I am sure you want to go back to yours."

Gabe looked at Dean and said " that's what I just said numb skull."

Dean rolled his eyes, and kicked a rock at Gabe. " I am trying to say, we can help each other out."

" how so?"

" your brother won't take me home with you, and that's where you want him? I am want to go home, and away from all this. So If you take me home, he wouldn't have to worry about me and there would be nothing keeping him here." 

" great plan except he wouldn't leave here without you, and If I take you home, he'll just retrieve you again and probably burn the place down so you have nowhere to run to."

Dean scratched his chin. " what If you didn't take me home but close to it? I could hide out in the caves near my home, and you could help him search for me while actually hindering it? then you can be the supportive brother and convince him he needs his family right now and he can find a nice dragon friend or whatever."

" wouldn't stop him from burning your home down, so you would have to come home to him and where would you get the supplies to survive? you cannot live off of air and you need a way to keep warm without starting a fire cuz then we'd find you"

" I could run home, get the supplies, assure my family I'm not dead and then go. You'd have to keep your brother under control"

" but when you family doesn't smell like sorrow anymore Cas is gonna know what's up."

Dean threw his hands up in the air, " I don't know"

" and you'd have to mask your smell cuz he'd find ya pretty quickly smelling like that."

Dean looked pleadingly at Gabe. " please just take me home, I have to see my family, to see that they're okay, even if he finds me."

Gabe looked at  Dean before looking back at the cave, if Cassie hadn't discovered the pretty little trinkets disappearance then maybe the pretty little trinket could hide out in the woods long enough for Gabe to get Castiel home. 

He sighed, " lets go then" 

**A bunch of boring a repetitive details I didn't wanna write*/*-/*-/-*/**

Gabe circled the Clearing outside the city borders of the kingdom of Winchester ( I don't know if I gave it a name) before landing and gently setting a sickly looking Dean on the ground.  " this is as far as I can take you, you're gonna have to do the rest on you own" 

Dean nodded and gave Gabe a thumbs up. Gabe chuckled before spreading his wings and taking off. Dean looked to his castle and watched how the rays of the sunset painted it a soft pink. He smiled to himself and began the hike to the city limits. 

/*/**//*/

He made it to the gate in twenty minutes, and watched the guards drop their poker faces at the sight of him. And what a aight he was, covered in mud and blood and leaves from his trek. They immediately rushed forward and took his arms, as to steady him before walking him down the cobblestone road to the castle. 

They burst through the doors without preamble and continued down the hallways with long determined strides before reaching... Sam's chambers? One of the gaurds ( Edward? Adam? Edwin? Dean couldn't remember) and rasped on the door three times. After a few moments Dean heard his  _mother's_ voice asking them to state their business. 

" your majesty, there is an important matter we wish for you to address." 

Dean gave the guard a questioning look, the guard leaned over and whispered" ever since the dragon took off with you, Your mother and Sam have worked to find ways to get you back, and when your father banned them from doing it, they moved their 'headquarters' in here so he wouldn't see it." 

Right after he said this the door opened with his mother scolding the guards" what's so important for you to disturb me when I said not to, I'm sure this is something John could hand-" she lifted her eyes and saw Dean. " dean?"  Dean blinked back tears and flung himself into his mother's arms, "mommy!!!" he held onto her tight and just cried. Vaguely he heard Sam screaming his name before he felt Sam's arms go around him, then they're all on the floor holding onto each other for dear life and just crying. 

God, how Dean missed them.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for you time, don't forget to comment.


	10. A pissed off Dragon is a force to be reckoned with

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> whereas Dean is gone and Castiel is super murderous about it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, please answer me this; how fast should this go? should we skip to the martial bliss or should he keep trying to woo Dean?  
> I personally don't like stories that are like bam!! baby nor do I like when you're on chapter 50 and they finally graduated to holding hands. So is the pace good now or should I speed it up or slow it down?

Dean knew that time was money, that the chances of his escape actually lasting longer then 30 minutes drastically decreased the more time he spent with his family. The problem was that he didn't want to let go. He had missed them and suffered a sort of emotional trauma without them. But if he wanted to keep them, he would have to let go. 

He took a shuddering breathe and pulled himself away from his families embrace. They followed him and kept their hands clenched into his tunic. He wasn't sure when his father joined in the family moment, but his grip on Dean's shoulder kept him from putting the necessary between him and them. Dean grabbed someone's hand ( he wasn't sure who, but he had a suspicion it was Sam by the strength in the grip and the smallness of the hands) to ground himself and give him the support he needed to force his next words from his throat. 

" I-i can't stay here, I have to go, I'm sorry"

Mary shook her head, Sam's grip on his hand tightened and his father wrapped his arm around his shoulders and dragged him closer to them. In perfect sync, so synchronized it was  _damn creepy_ they said 

"of course you can". 

Dean was taken aback, that was creepy and his family  _never got along so well before._ What the hell? Was his family possessed? His eyes flickered from face to face before landing on his mother's, who looked like she was about to burst into tears. She rested her hand on Dean's cheek, and slowly stroked her thumb across his zygomatic bone. 

"Dean honey, we just got you back. You have been gone for  _months_ Dean. We were beginning to think we would never get you back." A few tears rolled down her cheeks even as she smiled brokenly at him. Dean shook his head and once again tried to pull back, even as he held on tight. 

:"No, you don't get it. It didn't let me go, I got out and hitched hiked down a mountain. ( tots lying here but he wasn't about to tell them he got another dragon to fly him down). I was lost for days ( half truth, he was lost without them and the sun) it has to know I am gone by now and this will be the first place it will look for me. We have to scrub down everything I touched, we have to make me scentless. Its gonna come looking for me and Its not going to show mercy this time". 

John gripped Dean's shoulder and stared at him. " what can we do to help? we won't let it take you away again. I won't allow it to take you away. You're right though, you can't stay here but I won't let you go to far in case you need us for something"

"Dad, I cannot be too close, If they watch and they see you guys going to and from the castle for no reason at all especially If it happens frequently." 

John narrowed his eyes, and lowered himself to Dean's height, " I will not allow you to just wander off alone, you can get that out of your head Dean, We are in this together or not at all."

**Castiel's POV**

HIS QUEEN WAS GONE. He left him alone because he felt that his queen needed a break. His queen was homesick and Castiel knew that, he had felt the feeling before when he was first driven from his family. He allowed his queen his privacy, and took the moment to bath in the shallow pools of the circular room. He ended up drifting off, thinking of his beauty and how he had chased him to today. How he had laughed and flung insults that for once seemed to be in good humor than in ill temperament. He had hoped that his queen had finally started to warm up to him and maybe accept his place by Castiel's side.  So Castiel had drifted and dreamed of his queen becoming his wife ( lmfao, Dean's a wife.) and moving the cave around to his own liking, adding his own touch, or if his queen wished it Castiel would find a whole new dwelling, one to fil with their presence and scents and their fledglings. ( wink, wink )

He was woken by a feeling of emptiness, of extreme wrongness, like a part of himself was gone, the most important part of him was mia. He was confused at first, and began meandering around the halls looking for his queen. Maybe he could help ground him to help Castiel figure out what was wrong. 

Thirty seconds later Castiel realized that was the problem. His queen was gone, his scent had grown stale and led away from the nest, towards outside. His soul presence ( like an imprint left behind by your soul) had faded and left a trail heading Away from  _Castiel._ He had left hours ago, and Castiel had been completely unaware. The thought froze him in his tracks, the cold hand of rejection closed around his heart and just squeezed. 

He honestly thought this would kill him, right here, right now. He would grow so cold, he would freeze to death and forever be a statue of ice. 

_But... he could go after his queen and bring him back.  They were connected, and unable to be complete without each other, he will make his way back to me. Even if his soul has to override his conscious mind, his queen will seek him out and when he does Castiel will be there, meeting him halfway with arms wide open. Arms that would become steel bands and imprison his queen to him._

 With a determined glint in his eyes, Castiel took flight and burst from the cave entrance to be greeted by a cool breeze and his ...brother?

Yes, it was Gabriel. Gabriel smelled different, like something had been added or rubbed onto him, but for the honest life of him, Castiel didn't know what. Castiel drew himself to his full height and asked

"what the fuck are you doing  here?" (language he learned from his Queen, who  ** _will be his wife_** )

Gabe tilted his head, " is it wrong to visit my baby brother?"

"Considering you left me to die, yes. And you're not here for a visit, you're here to try to convince me to return to the other traitors with you. I am not feeling this talk today."

Gabriel shook his head and stepped closer, too close for Castiel's comfort since he didn't trust Gabriel. 

"Cas what happened had nothi-" He didn't get to finish because Castiel recognized the scent. It was Castiel's own, mixed with a sweet underlying smell of apple cinnamon, with the barest hint of leather, Dean's scent. A combined mixture of his and Dean scent, which would have been on Dean cuz Castiel scent marked him. Which means Gabriel touched his Queen. Gabriel had touched what wasn't his, and now his treasure is gone. Gabriel will die for this.

With a truly heart wrenching sound, Castiel launched himself forward and tackled his brother off of the side of the mountain. Gabriel wasn't expecting it and was unable to dodge in time, nor was he able to keep his wings out of his brothers reach, so Castiel bit them. Not enough to permanently damage them, but enough that Gabriel wouldn't be using them anytime soon.

And then they hit the ground, Castiel atop of Gabriel, causing a wing to dislocate. Gabriel hissed and snapped at Castiel, but Castiel was having none of it and pressed his left front paw ( is it a paw for a dragon or a front foot? I cannot tell) and pressed into his trachea. He leaned in real close, and asked in a deadly calm voice, "Where is he?"

Gabriel looked up with wide eyes, " I never kiss and tell Cassy dear"

Castiel vision flooded with crimson waves, and the rage spiked across his brain and if  Gabriel even so much as a touched  **Castiel's treasure** there would be hell to pay, hell there will be hell to pay just because he said that. 

Castiel extended his claws and smacked him clear across the face. The problem was that he didn't stop at one slap he kept going and soon his hand was covered in blood. He stared at what was left of Gabriel's face and began to panic, he never meant to kill him , he just wanted to know where Dean was.  He climbed off his brother and shook his head to clear it, what does he do now?e


	11. Gabe is an Asshole, just saying.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gabe is not dead. Castiel kinda wishes he was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yay, an update!! surprise, surprise!!!   
> WARNING!!! Contains Dean in Denial. But what else is new?   
> I've decided I am going to make Dean a mama. idk when, but its going to happen.

-

For a terrifying moment Castiel thought he had killed his own brother. Gabriel's face was bloody,some of his scales had fallen off, chunks of flesh had been gouged out to expose the muscles and bones underneath. It was gruesome, and made Castiel sick to his stomach, he scrambled backwards and looked to his paws. To his claws that contained pieces of his brothers face. He was a monster. His breath began to saw in and out of his chest, no wonder Dean left, he wasn't worthy of his queen, he couldn't provide for him and he killed his own brother. He killed his own brother, he mutilated his face and for what? because he said a few unsavory things? He didn't need to die for that did he?

So consumed with these thoughts was he, that he didn't notice that his brother was indeed not dead and extermely pissed off. Gabe rose to his feet, shook the excess skin off his face and tackled his baby bro. Tumbling through the forest they went, taking down trees and biting at each other until Gabe pinned Castiel to the forest floor. He bared his teeth, his lips pulling back exposed a hole in his cheek that Cas hadn't noticed before.  
"you would attack your own flesh and blood for a little whore? a pretty little trinket? you can find them anywhere, they're a dime a dozen. What's so special about his one? You're not a dragon. You're just a baby that lost its mother. If you want your damn toy back so bad, go fucking find it, you worthless piece of fuck."  
Gabe shrieked in his face for good measure before spreading his wings and taking off. Castiel was in shock, he never felt rage the way he does now, nor guilt like he was currently feeling. He wanted to rip his brother's wings off for what he said about his queen, but he was immensely glad that he hadn't killed his brother and didn't want to feel that way ever again. Castiel laid there, debating whether to chase his brother or his queen.

He chose to chase his queen, he had after all lived a long time without his "family" and now that he thought about it, him and Gabe were even now. Each having destroyed some part of the other. And his best lead was to follow Gabe's scent trail to wherever he stashed his Queen and that wouldn't last forever. He knew how to get home if he ever had to go there.

__--__--__Several hours later__--__--  
The whole problem with Castiel's plan of just sniffing out Gabe's scent was that Gabe was an asshole. It seemed to Castiel that Gabe had rubbed himself on every tree he came across which was a lot since he was in a forest or he took random walks into the woods and went in circles, or just deadended his trails. Following his scent trial has led Castiel nowhere, he was no closer to finding his queen then he was earlier and now he felt bad for letting Gabe fly off the way he had. He really shouldn't considering what Gabe has done to him in the past and not to mention he took his queen to god-knows-where and then insulted him, all of which were unforgiveable offenses. So why did he feel so damn bad about it? why did he feel like he was in the wrong? He hadn't meant to hurt Gabe, just to stop him from insulting Dean. Dean didn't deserve to be bad mouthed in such a way. Dean deserved the world, he deserved the prettiest of gems, the healthest fledglings, the best den. And up till thirty seconds ago, Castiel felt that he deserved Dean.

Damn Gabe to hell. He caused nothing but trouble, ever since they were young, he got Castiel into trouble, into such deep trouble that he couldn't even go home again. He shows up here now, and takes his queen away causing Castiel to go into temporary madness and then makes him feel guilty. To top it all off he made sure he would have one hell of a time finding his queen. But he wouldn't win, no siree, Castiel would find his queen if he had to burn the whole forest down. His queen WOULD be back where he belonged, or the whole world was gonna burn.

!@#$%^&*()Dean's POV~@$%^^&*(()_())

So Dean was once again separated from his family with no way to contact them. The only silver lining was that they knew he was safe and he knew they were safe. He was accompanied by a lone guard for a few reasons: one was to mask his scent, so if the dragon did come to this part of the woods he wouldn't smell Dean, two for company, three to ease his parents minds and four for protection. Dean himself had been doused with vinegar and lemons, with a touch of charcoal cuz charcoal just absorbs any and all odors ( i found these tips on google, apparently leaving a bowl of vinegar in a stinky room will eliminate odors, lemons kill the stench of death and activated charcoal pellets are great for pet odors.) or least his mom said so. So any who, his family doesn't actually know where he's going so they can't give it away, the whole castle was scrubbed, except for Dean's chambers, which remained untouched by Dean. There was absolutely no evidence to suggest that Dean had been home, not even a change in his parents demeanors. They were upset to see him go, fearing he would lost again and they would never know. Of course there were measures in place just in case something happened to him, they would at least get some closure but nothing was ever fool proof. In the end, Dean traded one prison for another, one not of his making and one of his own making. He still was nowhere near home and he still had no way to contact his family because contact was dangerous. So all that was left for Dean to do was grumpily stare at his guard and try to remember his name. He knew he was a trusted member of the royal guard, but for the life of him he couldn't remember his name. They were currently staying in a burrow under a large oak tree, surrounded by roots and worms and beetles because Dean couldn't stand to be in another cave. So whatever-his-name-is is also grumpily staring at Dean while flicking black beetles off of his person. Dean thinks he should've stayed with th- Cast-overgrown lizard. To dispel this train of thought Dean decides to start up a conversation. " so uh, I'm sorry you got stuck with me, and that you might have to fight a dragon, unless you want to leave now. I would let you leave. You would not get into trouble." whatever-his-name-is raised a brow and just stared. "not much of a talker huh?" More staring, Dean was starting to feel uncomfortable and he shifted awkwardly. He was about to try once again to engage this guy in conversation when a loud roar shattered the peacefulness of the forest. Dean leap to feet, and stared at the ceiling of the burrow, squinting as if he could see Castiel there the layers of mud and bus. He didn't know how he knew it was him but he  _knew_ it was him, and he was here for Dean and it scared Dean how much he wanted to run to him, not away from him. It felt like his soul expanded, like it uncurled from its fetal position, and Dean hadn't even known it had retreated into itself until now, and he didn't even realize how lonely he felt until Castiel's roar made him warm and protected and he  _needs to go to him now. **They have to be together like yesterday.**_ He opened his mouth to call to his overgrown lizard when he was tackled by whatever-the-hell-his-name-is-Dean-doesn't-care-anymore with his hand pressed over Dean's mouth with a wild look full of some kind of realization on his face. He leaned close to Dean's ear and whispered "be quiet, my prince, we do not want to be discovered by the beast."

And what the fuck was Dean  _thinking?_ He was just about to hand himself over to his kidnapper, and-and ... what? Declare his undying love for the beast, watch over the damn things eggs, and polish its gold and be a good little fucking  _pet?_ Hell to the no, that wasn't Dean. He had a kingdom to run, subjects to care for. He did not have time for Stockholm syndrome. Plus he thought that Gabriel  dragon dude was gonna pack Cas up and take him home? what the fuck happened to that? 

He did not hold up his end of the bargain, he disappeared and the he was supposed to make Cas disappear. 

Dean's soul suddenly gave an anguished cry, it surged forward and reached outwards, towards something to the west, and just as suddenly Dean believed Castiel when he said their souls were tied. He also came to the conclusion, and he was 100% certain about this, that if Castiel were to find Dean now, pinned beneath another man he would go ballistic and a lot of people would die. 

Not that Dean wanted him to find him at all, his soul be damned, there must be a way to free him of this tie, but it would be worse to find him like this. So Dean did the only thing he could think to do, and thrust his head forward, slamming his face into the guard's metal helmet and knocked himself out.  HIs soul retreated into his body, and went to work sending Dean's brain images of a sexy Castiel. 

Whatever-the-hell-his-name-is's POV ( I legit don't have a name for this guy yet, guess I should figure it out huh?)

He had seen a lot of things in his life, for he had lived a long life. He been there for Camelot, and has seen beautiful Princess' ( and Princes), deadly dragons, zombies, and you get the idea. He hadn't seen some one quite as beautiful as Dean, and he could wholly understand the Dragon's desire to possess him, and Dean being a sweetheart just sweetened the pot. So yeah, back to the point. In his lifetime he had seen a few soul bonds, where two souls had decided they had found the one and latched onto each other and mated. Tied themselves together, sometimes without the consent of their own mortal minds. He had only seen it a few times, but the look in a soul mate's eyes was unforgettable, especially if the mind did not agree. He could see the war in the young princes eye, the need to go the dragon, the need to avoid the dragon and be who he used to be, who he was supposed to be, who he wasn't anymore. 

And there he decided he would help the prince, he would lead him to accept who he was now, and let go of who he had been. He realized he couldn't force the prince to accept his role as a dragon's mate but he could help Dean to realize it himself. Letting the Dragon lock Dean up would only strengthen Deans resolve to get away and deny the bond. But if he could get the Dragon to court Dean and Dean to accept everything would fall into place and everybody could be happy. 

So he silenced the beautiful prince, and helped calm his racing heart. He blocked Dean's soul's attempts to attract its mate, and allowed Dean to knock himself out. 

He allowed himself to cradle the breathtaking boy, and allowed himself to  make a promise he had banned himself from making. 

 

He promised to protect Dean, and lead him to glory, prosperity and happiness.

A promise he had been unable to keep before.

 ~~~~ CAS POV~~~~

He figured his gem had headed to his former home, and if he wasn't at the castle he must be nearby. His treasure was such a family oriented being, which is why Castiel thought he would make a great mother, that he knew he would return to the area which he knew. So he flew around the surrounding forest first, calling out to his love and listening intently for a response he wasn't sure his love would give him.

He had almost given up and had let out a despairing call, before resolving to search the kingdom itself when he felt it. His soul straining towards a patch of forest in the east. 

 

He had found his Queen....

...or his general location. 

 

 

Close enough. 

 So he found him.

I dare you to argue with me. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think I am going make whatever-the-hell -his-name-is Merlin. whatcha think?


	12. I am tired.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> my chapter titles make no sense what so ever. lmfao.  
> Dean's soul is so sick and tired of Dean's mortal mind's shit, it found a mate for them who is brave and honest and all that fun stuff but his physical mind is so caught up with his physical form that they haven't made any relationship progress. No, now they're hiding from their mate. Hell, this mate made them immortal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am literally exhausted.

(O.O) Dean's soul's POV (O.O)

Have you ever done something that you're immensely proud of, like you're so goddamn proud of you handiwork that you just show it off to any one that looks? Then nobody looks, or praises if anything they just shoot down your accomplishments? Has it ever been your own mind? well that's what's happening right here. Ya see my friends, I am a soul, Dean's soul to be exact, and I follow the rules of spiritual realm and I learn from the spirits and essences around me. I can converse with over a thousand beings in less then .03 seconds. Like most souls, I am wise from all of my interactions, and since souls and spirits cannot lie, I know I know nothing but facts. So anywho, a couple months ago I met this handsome fellow, he was a little confused but he was good soul, worked hard and strove to find a silver lining in everything, he would go to the ends of  _well existence_ to make sure his loved ones were well taken care of. I decided he was the one for me, and son of a bitch he loved me back, Told me I was a pure and handsome soul, very nurturing. So we decided to join together cuz yeah, this soul here is mine and the brains can figure it out for themselves, and deal with their social rules and bullshit. </p Except only one brain figured it out and no, it wasn't mine. Mine holds on to the damn notion that he's meant to marry a pretty girl and sire babies. He's gonna be a king, rule his people and die younger then he needs to because being responsible for thousands of people is a high stress job. Like really?! First of all, after you die none of your social constructs even exists. I mean look at a soul and tell me it's gender, that's right you can't. Unless they want you too, or you get to know them, and 80 years of life is nothing to eternity of death so fuck that anyway. Then you're already dead, so there really is no point in marrying for heirs or what not cuz dead people don't create life. So if ya gay be gay. Be fucking happy cuz nobody gives a fuck when you're dead. they're not even going to remember you. Unless you mate an immortal, your mortal body will die and everything you did in life to maintain a high social standing will be pointless. But try telling Dean that. Except Dean mated an immortal thanks to me, plus now he has to equipment to mother a child, courtesy of said mate and he still refuses to accept his new reality.

IT IS DRIVING ME NUTS. I have honestly resorted to crying in anguish over the fact that I cannot be with my  ** _chosen soulmate_** and the bastard still ignores me, we are literally part of the same damn whole, but we cannot get on the same page. Then there's this new asshat that knows something about souls, cuz he keeps sending these signals to me that just makes me calm the fuck down, I don't wanna calm the down, I wanna ride Castiel like he's a bucking bronco and you cannot be calm for that. The world seems intent on keeping us apart and I don't know why, and I am so damn tired of it. I am so damn exhausted from defending my actions, I know better then the mortals, and I cannot tell a falsehood so I mean it when I say I love that lizard. 

 

Why won't you let me go to my love? I chose him, and he chose me, so why?

**Dean's head's POV. His mortal mind.**

I feel moody. Honest to god, I feel so damn moody its not even funny, I am depressed, but I'm not, I miss the dragon but I don't. And I have fucking cramps, my abdomen keeps tightening, and it hurts so bad I'm crying and I would kill a bitch for something smothered in chocolate. The guard-his name is Merlin which is a falcon, and I don't know why but that suits him and I thought it was so beautiful I got angry over it- looks like he knows what up but he ain't sharing with the class. Not even when I asked him what was up with his face.

 

 

So I'm suffering and I mad about, I feel lonely and I'm mad about it, but I'm also sad about it. If I have to sleep on the ground one more time I'm going to cry uncontrollably, and nobody will be able to stop me. To make matters worse, Castiel seems to know I'm in the area because he won't leave this area, he circles it all day and roars his pretty big head off and he sounds so anguished that I just wanna hold him, which is weird because I simultaneously wanna hit him with a frying pan. I have a weird feeling that my current predicament is his fault and I want him to die for it. But I don't, and I only feel marginally better when Merlin cuddles me, he calms me down for some reason. But it also pisses me off cuz I am taken.

I am so confused and this entire rant makes no sense so I'm going to take a nap and cry about it cuz I am still sleeping on the ground with the dirt and the bugs and omg there's spiders.

is it gay to fall asleep in another's man lap? Because I honestly want to curl up in Merlin's.  
this isn't like me, this doesn't sound like me at all. None of this does.  
*angrily wipes tears away, before looking at Merlin beseechingly who looks a little uncomfortable, before shrugging and pulling me into his lap* Merlin then leans really close to my ear, and so softly I almost didn't hear it...  
" this didn't happen and it's never happening again."  
pfft, fine with me, I much rather curl up with Cast-- my blankets, by myself without your skinny ass bitch.

Merlin's POV  
This is unexpected, as it seems that i was too late in blocking Dean's souls distress signal to his mate, and it seems the young prince is going through a menstrual cycle. Very bad combination. The dragon know Dean's in this area and now Dean probably reeks of fertility, and he's searching for comfort. I have to move him, the longer we stay here the more likely we are to be found. The prince is useless though, as it is glaringly obvious this is his first menstual cycle his body is flooded with unfamilar hormone's ( to further explain, this period is worse than a women's would be, because Dean's body has neve rexperienced these hormones before and doesn't know how to handle them, and he is still changing on the inside, so he can get pregnant now but it would be unhealty for him to do so. This is why his moodiness is over the top) and it is treating it like a sickness until it can figure out what's wrong with him.  
it's best to move him while he's asleep though, so he isn't complaining about the pain or whatever else pisses off his hormone adled brain.

Closing his physical eyes, he opened his minds eye and using the imprint on Dean's soul he began tracking the dragon. Ironically, he was also asleep at the and in the same exact position as Dean, reclining against a wall, head tilted back with month wide open, legs slightly bent. The only diffenrence is that Castiel held his arms in such a way that it looked as though he was holding someone, while Dean looked like he was being held. Well, he was being held by Merlin, but he shoulda been held by Castiel, they were probably dreaming of each other. Whatever, worked for him. In a slightly (totally ungraceful) fluid motion, Merlin rose to his feet, Handsome prince still in arms and started the daunting task of making it out of the burrow with his cargo still asleep.

ten minutes later.  
He made it. He may of left some shit behind but they're out of there, Dean's still asleep and he is totally not sliding down a hill on his butt while an angry dragon was burning the forest behind him.  
Okay, he totally was. But Dean really is still asleep, and Merlin is so close to freedom he can almost taste it. Using a touch of magic, he sped himself up and-- whelp, he didn't know that there was a cliff here. What a time to find out, while flying right off. He curled around Dean midair and hoped the prince would survive, even if it cost him his life.  
He squeezed his eyes shut, and whispered an incatantion that created a protective layer around them and prayed for the best. He reopened his eyes a few minutes later, surprised to find that they hadn't splatted all over the forest floor yet, only to find that Castiel had caught them. Fuck, he really wanted to avoid this, and somehow Dean was still asleep. IS DEAN EVEN ALIVE??? WHO THE HELL SLEEPS THROUGH ALL THAT??? He reached up to check his pulse, when he was cut off by a very loud growl. Castiel was looking right at him, flying with his head between his front legs. which was incredibly stupid because there was a mountain.  
"uh, dude you might wanna watch where you're going--"he was cut off was again by a loud growl, then they flew into the mountain side.  
and down they went.  
They fell down the mountain side, and Merlin's body hit many rocks, he tried to protect Dean but he wasn't sure he succeeded. The crash had caused an avalanche, Merlin tried to slow them down with magic but he couldn't get it to work over the pounding of his head. He had no idea where Castiel went, and he heard screaming. it was really close, like right next to his ear close. Turning his head he saw that Dean was finally awake and screaming for him, for Castiel, for his mother, and Sammy, maybe he mentioned his father, cannot really be sure.

He tried to move but they were still sliding, and if they didn't stop the would surely die. Summoning the last of his strength he pulled Dean in tighter and  _forced_ his magic to the forefront and blew them out of the way of the avalanche. They keep flying until, he didn't know... everything was blurry and he was so tired.... and who was talking... and whatever....he's going to take a nap...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so i realized that the photo i put in there didn't actually show up, but if you click on the box it should take you to the website to see what a Merlin falcon looks like. I can never get pictures to show up.


	13. Not really an update, sorry guys.

Okay so this isn't an update for the story but i just wanted to tell you guys that this story will be postponed. I am going to bootcamp. I do not know when i'll be able to update.   
I apologize. I wanted this to be done but the whole month before bootcamp is so stressful and theres been alot of tears so this was my last proirity. I hope you all lead happy and healthy lives. Good luck.

Oh, and i know you don't know me personally and maybe it isn't smart to tell you guys even this, but could you pray for me? I am terrified and i don't know how i will be able to do this.   
Thanks anyway, Blackheartsandblackersouls.


	14. It's cold

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When you've failed your queen, how can you look him in the eyes and promise eternity? when all you've managed to accomplish is to lose him, to your own brother.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for all your support!! It means so much to me!!! I didn' t read any of your comments until now since I wrote that note while en route to boot camp but I really want to thank you for what you've written.

Castiel was cold, so very cold. Dragons were prideful creatures, and Castiel was maybe one of the most prideful of them all. The last few days had shown Castiel he didn't have much to be proud of though. He lost his queen to his brother, and when he found him, smelling young and fertile he was unconscious in the arms of another man, when he managed to grab them he flew right into the side of the mountain, thus losing his queen again. Without his love, his gem he was cold. His heart just didn't beat right without him.  He laid under the pile of snow and just gave up. without his queen he was nothing. just an overgrown lizard laying under a pile of snow. Really depressed lizard in a pile of snow, why would he be laying in a pile of snow?( he should be looking for Dean but ya know, who doesn't like to wallow in guilt and aftermath of their failures, I KNOW I DOOO) it just seems like the thing to do. 

Dean's POV

well fuck. where the fuck am I? I'm cold and my stomach is cramping like a mother fucker, and where is what's his face? did they fall off a cliff? is that why his head hurts? where is Castiel? did he make it out okay? why do I care? Now would be a good time to sit up and catalog my surroundings, I raised myself on my elbows and immediately cried out in pain, my spine was on  _fire, like raging inferno._ I shrieked in agony, this is the most painful thing I have ever endured and I cannot feel my legs. was I paralyzed? fuck, fuck, fuck I  ** _need_** Castiel, I don't know why but I need that son of a bitch.

"Castiel!!! CASTIEL, WHERE ARE YOU!?!?!? I NEED YOU!! PLEASE"

I sobbed, my breath sawing in and out of my chest so fast that it hurt too. The cold air stung my face but at least it helped numb the pain in my spine, but where was Castiel? it added to my pain knowing he wasn't here to relieve it but what would he even do?? its quite clear I wasn't going to survive this, and for some reason I couldn't bear to see him come to the same conclusion. For some reason I didn't want him to know I was dying. but I wanted him here because if anybody could save me, its him. if anything he would ease my pain and I could die peacefully and not in agony. ah hell, what do I even want? I don't even know. where is that stupid dragon?  

I'm... not going to last much longer... the world is growing faint...

I..

just...

 want...

to ... 

see..

him...

one..

last...

time...

....

Merlin's POV

I have to find the prince and his dragon yesterday, if they have any injuries the best way for both of them to heal it to be together. if they're not injured the dragon has probably taken the prince already but Merlin has to look anyway. Just to be sure, he was after all, charged with keeping the Prince safe, and he promised himself, and his... long departed ...friend ( lover, and guess who that is!!!) that he wouldn't see another being with such great potential to be destroyed before he could reach it. He couldn't live with himself if that were to happen again. And Dean was so bright and beautiful and it was sooo obvious that the dragon loved him with everything he has. They, together would make great rulers. Even if they decided not to be rulers, they deserved a bright future full of fucking babies and the bullshit.

AND GODDAMN MERLIN WAS GOING TO MAKE SURE THEY GOT THIER HAPPILY EVER AFTER.  

 


	15. Once something is truly lost, you can never get it back again.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Title is a quote from Black Butler

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The military didn't work out for me, i'm actually super bummed about it because I worked for two years to be prepared for it and I just wasn't prepared enough.

Life hurts. It's full of disappointments, and loss, and it's unfair. It's also fragile, like the flame of a candle.   
Love is a fire, it warms and soothes the cold of being lonely. It's cozy to be wrapped up in your loved one’s arms, like it's cozy to sit in front of a fire. It can blaze brightly and blaze out of control. It can maim and burn and scar and destroy. It drives people to insanity, it can be used to kill. It melts wax easily. Candles don't stand a chance next to a big fire.   
Loss leaves you empty. It's a hollow feeling, like something important it gone. Like the flame of a candle, or the candle itself.   
Hope is stronger than fear. It can also be crueller. You hope and dream, and it gets you nowhere. You spend all this time, hoping and working for something and it blows up in your face. Hope is hard to get rid of too, and since its stronger then fear, it pushes it aside and sets one up for failure. 

Castile still had hope. He had heard his Queen's call for help and tore down half the forest in search of him. He had melted the piles of snow and crushed the boulders that had stood in his way. The call had come not even five minutes before, so he was still looking for the holder of his flame. He wouldn't find anything, of course, how could he? When what he is looking for is gone? There was nothing to find, and yet Castiel still hoped, thus he still searched. Maybe when he realized this, the loss would destroy him. We could only hope he was stronger than that. 

CASTIEL  
He was beginning to think that this was hopeless. He had splinters in his gums from throwing trees with his teeth, bits of rock stuck under his claws from the boulders, and his throat was inflamed from all the fire breath. Yet he hadn't found his queen. His love, his soulmate. The call had made him hope, not only that Dean was alright but that his queen had finally begun to accept him, accept them. Instead he found nothing but an empty clearing where he had sensed his gem. He searched a fifty-mile radius and had come up empty handed, and Dean wasn't sending him any signals anymore. He couldn't even feel their soul tether, the one thing that ties them together as soulmates. It was almost as if...  
NO!!!!! DEAN WAS NOT DEAD. HE WAS SLEEPING OR JUST OUT OF RANGE OF THE TETHER, CASTIEL HAD THE WRONG CLEARING. DEAN WASN'T DEAD THOUGH. DEAN COULDN'T DIE WITHOUT HIM. Castiel was sure of this. He would stop thinking like that immediately. He wouldn't let such horrible thoughts intrude in his thinking anymore, he had to have hope. He would find his love.   
He had to.   
With renewed strength and resolve Castiel lifted his snout (I have no clue if it’s called a snout on a dragon or a muzzle but whatever, he lifted his damn nose) to the wind and took and deep breath. Searching for the smell of cinnamon apple pie, and leather, with a slight touch of lavender. From his left came the barest hint, the tiniest hint of cinnamon, hardly could call it a hint, but it was there, and it was enough for Cas. He spun around and bounded toward the scent, and yes! it was starting to smell like cinnamon apple pie, a few more feet later and he could almost smell leather!!! He picked up speed, unfurled his wings to give him a lift and took off at the speed of sound.   
AND he could smell Dean, not just a hint but full-blown Dean, he skidded to a halt, his heart thundering in his chest, he had found him!!! He just knew if he held on to his hope he would find him. He grinned a toothy grin looked down toward where the smell was stronger and there, right next to the river he hadn't even noticed was.... the source of the smell.  
It was a tunic. A tunic that had used to be white but was streaked with dirt, and had sweat stains, in the side of the tunic there was a large crimson stain, large enough to cover half the tunic. A tunic that smelled like Dean. A tunic covered in blood. The realization his Cas like a mo. of and he scrambled forward and shoved his nose into the tunic and took a deep breath to smell whose blood it was.   
it was Dean's. It was Dean's blood, it was Dean's tunic, covered in Dean's blood that Cas had found after Dean had called him for help. That he found after he realized he couldn't sense his soul tether anymore, the souls tether that was too damn quiet. Castiel violently reared back and shook his head from side to side. The displaced air caused hunks of snow to fall of the trees, and Castiel kept backing away, away from the tunic and away from the truth of what that means He just wanted to scream his grief and frustrations, and so he did. He threw back his head and roared. It shook the mountain and caused and avalanche, but Cas didn't care, his Dean was gone, his sweet, precious, innocent Dean, He screamed until he couldn't anymore then he fell to his knees and cried. Great big tears of anguish., of loos beginning to hollow him out. He remained that way.   
He was still sobbing when Merlin found him hours later. He had shifted into human form and had been snowed upon over the course of the day. HIs sobs had a hollow sound to them, like he had nothing left to give but it hurt even more to stop crying then it hurt to cry. Occasionally, in the five minutes Merlin was there, he would sob out a mangled version of Dean. That's when Merlin knew, he knew who this was, and he knew he didn't save Dean. That Dean was gone, he sent up a small but precise prayer for Dean's soul and removed his coat.   
After all, he couldn't allow Dean's soulmate to freeze to death, could he?   
Unknown POV.  
I made some interesting discoveries today. I found a pot and pan in the forest, and some dirty socks in the stream. Too bad those socks were still attached some feet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading, comments are life. like literal life.


	16. that wonderful smell

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> surprise.

Life is full of mysteries. One such mystery is why is Dean still alive? How in the world is his luck so bad, that his life gets turned upside down and then he crashes into a mountain, but he’s still alive? How did he end up kidnapped by a dragon, to convince another dragon to return him to his family, to have to leave his family again with a guard who knows more than he lets on, to be found by the first dragon and crash into a mountain to be found by another creepy fucking man who stares too much? Who the fuck is writing this shitty story? Why can’t it be more plausible like Dean married some girl he didn’t love, but grew kind of fond of and now they have enough children to have an heir and a spare? Why couldn’t it have been simple or something, like if he had to have been kidnapped by a dragon why couldn’t he have developed Stockholm syndrome already? Why does this author hate him? (lol, I love Dean btw. But like Crowley, torture is how I show love). Now he’s sitting at a rough-hewn table, across from a guy who is ridiculously upset that Dean’s feet were in Dean’s socks and that Dean wanted to keep his feet in his socks. No, seriously, he keeps mumbling about it and every time Dean tries to get his name and such the man starts asking about his socks again. He couldn’t take it anymore, he much rather spends time with his overgrown lizard. He stood up slowly and unwrapped the man’ s blankets from his shoulders, he folded it very neatly and laid it on the table.   
“thank you for saving me, but my mate (wink wink) will be missing me, he’s probably worried sick as it is, and I must be taking my leave”.   
The creepy man stared at him as he backed away, narrowing his eyes, he jumped to his feet.   
“are you sure you’ll be needing those socks?” Dean nodded.   
“well, then. Safe travels don’t fall into the stream again, and if you do I’m taking your socks.”   
Creepy Dean thought, and slowly backed out the door. Just as he was about to close the door, Creepy McCreeper Stare too much called out. “When you make it back to your mate, be careful with the reunion fucking!!! It’s feeling like a cursed year, and thus not a good time for a baby, especially a baby of royal dragon blood!!!”   
Dean laughed nervously, “Ja, will do. We’ll be extremely careful!!!” what the fuck is that guy even on?!?!?! Two dudes aren’t going to make a baby, and how the hell did he know I was royalty or that Cas was a dragon!? What does he mean by cursed year?   
Dean turned from the cabin/hovel thing and started walking away. It was warmer here than it was where ever they were before, so Dean assumed that they were at the base of the mountain instead of the top. Which was great because Dean had no shoes, only socks, but not great because now he was in danger of stepping on pine needles and rocks. Also, he had no freaking clue where he was. Maybe he could try to call Cas again, but it didn’t work while he was lying broken in the snow…. Lying…. broken… HOLY SHIT!!! HOW THE FUCK IS HE WALKING!!??? He knew he was injured and seriously too, hell he was sure his back was broken and even before that his stomach had been cramping like nobody’s business. How is he well enough to be alive and let alone walking? Dean turned and looked the way he had come, maybe Creepy McCreeper stare too much deserved more thanks than Dean had given him, or maybe… Cas did find him and healed him?   
(Just to make it clear, Dean is fertile now. It is no longer dangerous for him to have a baby and he smells good right now. Especially to our favorite lizard, and he’s super in tuned to Dean’s scent and now he’s just sending out pheromones that could go for miles…)   
Several hours later.  
Dean had been walking for miles, his feet were sore, and they were bleeding. He was starving and couldn’t remember when he had last eaten, and his throat was so parched that each breath hurt. And he was lonely, he missed his family, his horse, Merlin even and he missed Castiel. Somehow, he felt Cas’ absence more acutely, like Cas was always in the back of his mind (he was) and now he’s not there and only now is Dean really noticing it and he feels all hollow inside. Tears started trickling down his cheeks, small and super salty tears that he didn’t even bother to wipe away. What even was the point? Nobody could see them, and he knew more would only take their place, because for some reason he needed Cas and Cas wasn’t there and was he even looking for Dean? Was his King looking for his Queen?   
Fuck!! Dean slapped himself, the sound rung through the trees and new tears sprang to his eyes. Of course, he was looking for him, he went through all that trouble to kidnap him and chase him down after he ran away. Dean must stop thinking like that, Castiel will come for him and if he doesn’t Dean could always go find him or go home to his family and marry a princess like he was supposed to. For now, he just must keep moving, and focus on surviving. First, he needed to find water, Creep said he found him in a stream, which meant there was a stream not too far from the cabin. But Dean had been walking for a few hours but wasn’t sure he had made it that far. What did his father teach him while hunting? If he got lost in a forest? Follow the river, there’s usually civilization near water. How to find the river thought, that was the question. Dean stood still and listened to the forest. He listened for animals for animals usually knew where to find water, and well he listened for water. He didn’t hear any rivers or streams, just birdsong and the occasional snap of a twig. Find an area that is in direct sunlight most of the waking hours and dig a hole, roughly a few inches deep and some water should come up. Not a lot but maybe a mouth full or two which is better than nothing.   
(disclaimer; do not use this fic to survive in a forest. You’ll probably die. I did some research, and many websites said find a river or stream preferably, ponds and lakes have a higher risk of bacteria that could kill you since they don’t move, and the water sits stagnant. The art of manliness website is where I got the idea to dig a hole but it also requires a container and plastic and a bunch of stuff Dean doesn’t have, a YouTube video said you could dig a hole a foot wide and a foot deep in damp ground and water will rise to the surface, but you still have to boil it and it might be hard to dig that big of a hole with your bare hands. So, Dean will unrealistically have a small bowl-shaped hole that fills with a few mouthfuls of water.)   
Dean started shoving leaves aside to find damp ground underneath, he dug his fingers into the earth and scooped out hand full of soil, water begin filling the hole only minutes later and Dean greedily began sucking it down. Once his thirst was sated, he decided to move on and keep going until he could go no farther, whether that be for his body shutting down or the sunlight fading faster than he could manage. He would keep moving if it killed him.   
Castiel’s POV  
Sometime during the night, I had shifted, I now lay in the form of a human with ten toes and fingers. I have no idea why, it’s never happened before, in fact if I ever shifted in my sleep it was always in reverse. Maybe my biology is messed up now that my queen is gone. For there was enough blood in that clearing that he should be dead, and now I am weaker without him and maybe that’s why my body took on a weaker form… I’m no expert.   
The man that saved me, is the same man that caused this to happen. The man that tried to take my queen and now we’ve both lost him. Now the stupid thinks that by keeping me alive against my will and referring to me as “Dean’s mate” (which is totally true, but he shouldn’t be placating me after he tried to steal him) that we’ll be buddies. Ah, just look at the stupid thing, opening windows because fresh air will help with my depression. Bullshit it will. Only my queen will alleviate my depression and he’s not her- what is that smell? I sit up, taking a large inhale through my nose, there it is again, it smells like… like… my queen but that can’t be possible. I saw the blood, but it is. That’s Dean and he smells fucking amazing… I must find him.   
“oh, get out of my way useless fool”

**Author's Note:**

> you know you want to comment.


End file.
